Book report

In her first novel, Burnard spans the lives of the Chambers family over a long period of fifty years by using narrative style. The book gives readers a fully picture of human life through the story of the Chambers family in the context of social changes in Canada over a half of the century.
Returning home from the Second World War with several fingers missing in the War, Bill along with his faithfully wife, Sylvia, begin to create a good house with a confidence that they could get their children, Patrick, Paul, and Daphne, safety and comfortable through their childhood- it’s what the Chambers are “hoping against hope to be” (p.8). Although the Chambers family experiences a tough time after the gloom of the recent war, the family members feel optimistic about the future of their family. It is typical post war optimism. “Damaged bodies and souls returned to the prospect of a world on the brink of prosperity”, Burn...