5.0 out of 5 stars A Gift of a Novel – reviewed April 4 2026
I couldn’t help but feel, as I read this novel, that I was experiencing something important – reading a story that that had long needed telling, and had needed telling in just this way. Malcolm Kempt illuminates Northern life with unflinching realism and the empathy of a humanist. The dark of a Northern winter is occupied not only by humans and animals going about their difficult lives – Kempt , with his confident powerful descriptive prose, creates a world in which the climate, the weather and caretaking and/or malevolent spirits occupy reality and determine outcomes. Officer Cole’s inevitable demise did not detract from the powerful impact of his life on those of the Inuit children whom he touched. He was rendered gently in all his human anger, grief and stymied love. Well done! I hope this is just the first of many novels from Malcolm Kempt.
Canadian Stories 