Buffie, Margaret Winter Shadows

Buffie, Margaret Winter Shadows
Tundra Books 2010 336p 19.95
978-0-88776-968-9 ms/hs Girls survive difficult times & choices in different eras E-BN


In 1850, Beatrice must decide her future and in 2010, Cass must decide hers as well. They meet spiritually when Cass finds Beatrice’s broach and diary, begin to communicate, and help each other discover their true destinies. Margaret Buffie makes supernatural seem like realistic fiction in Winter Shadows. In the mid 1850s, Beatrice suffers the loss of her mother, watches her father remarry the impossibly insecure and frugal Ivy, and tries to find her way in the new household. In the present day, Cass suffers the same loss, watches her father remarry Jean, and does not try at all to find her way in the new household that includes a step sister who is an annoying brat. Instead, she wants to live with Aunt Blair, her mother’s twin, who offers her true motherly affection. When Cass finds a broche in the fireplace of her old house, her visions begin, and she sees Beatrice at various occasions, initially disconcerting, and later, accepting. Beatrice finds herself seeing glimpses of Cass at uncanny times as well, and the parallel stories develop until they become one story with a theme of following one’s heart and making the right choices for happiness. Beatrice must decide between marrying the Reverend Dalhousie who she does not love or recognizing that she truly loves Duncan Kilgour, a man who brings out the best in her and who promises her true affection. During one of their many communications via Beatrice’s diary, Cass prompts Beatrice to make the right choice for herself. Beatrice communicates the same to Cass but in another way. She reveals to her at the end of the novel that they are related, thus providing a legacy that seems just right as Cass decides to live with Aunt Blair but to accept her new stepmother’s role in her life. Buffie is an excellent storyteller, a poet who knows how to put language together that is both descriptive and compelling. Her choices of a Canadian setting and the Cree heritage enhance the story. Finally, Buffie never reveals to the reader how the visions occurred; she leaves that to the imagination of the reader, and the reader will not be disappointed.
Note! There is one spelling error on p. 253. “Most were retired Comany men.” > “Company men.”
Supernatural Squaresky, Martha