About the book

Author: Francis, Brian, 1971-

Title: Natural order

Publication: Toronto : Doubleday Canada, 2011. ISBN 9780385671538.

DAISY audio format narrated by Bennett McCardle. CELA library call number DA41407. 361 pages in the paper edition; 9 hrs., 39 mins. as a recorded book.

About the story

This is the beautifully moving life story of an 86-year-old woman named Joyce. Told in a series of flash-backs from her early girlhood in rural Southern Ontario, through her marriage and family life, to her widowhood and eventual death, it shows the evolution of a life filled with regret and fear of what the neighbours will think.

Joyce grew up in the 1950s, although the heart of the novel is set in the Toronto of the 1980s. Most of the actual story takes place in the 2000s to 2010 or so, but much of the focus is much earlier.

Francis handles this heartbreaking story with a very compassionate touch, so that the reader comes to understand what is – to me – incomprehensible: how a mother could deny her child because of their sexual orientation. Coming from a generation before mine, no doubt Joyce would have found me equally incomprehensible!

Joyce is a wonderful, memorable character: she suffers no fools, protects those she loves, and does what she thinks is right (though the reader may disagree). Through her relationship with a young volunteer, she eventually comes to terms with some of the losses and mistakes of her earlier years.

It’s a beautiful, sad and very touching book. Recommended.