Fearnoch

Abstract

Fearnoch is the story, or stories, of the inhabitants of Fearnoch, Ontario, a fictional rural Ottawa Valley town on the cusp of disaster. It is an interconnected gathering of small stories swept together and dependent on each other. A boy watches pigs getting castrated and worries about his aging father. A young woman is nervous to return home, having not delivered on her promise. A socialist government employee plots a revolution and feuds with his former friend, a conservative farmer. And a depressed man tries to find his spine while working at the Fearnoch dump. They love each other; they hate each other; they forget and they remember. The disputes between the townspeople swell into a catastrophe that cuts through town. Before the end, each character remembers their humility, the humanity in their neighbour and their place as a piece of something bigger than themselves.