Day My Mother Walked on Water, The

The Day My Mother Walked on Water
by Helen Mourre
Published by Your Nickels Worth Publishing
Review by Michelle Shaw
$19.95 ISBN 9781778690389

This slim collection of essays is my first encounter with prairie writer Helen Mourre’s work, and I was quickly captivated by her thoughtful and detailed descriptions of a life well lived.

I consciously slowed down as I read through the essays in The Day My Mother Walked on Water, partly because I didn’t want them to end but also because I wanted to savour each word picture and ponder Mourre’s musings on faith, family, and the seasons of life.

The essays are firmly grounded in Saskatchewan– even those that take place elsewhere are still solidly tethered to the province. In each essay Mourre slows us down to a particular place and time and gives us snapshots of her life through the years. On the beach of a northern lake as a child where she nearly drowned, traveling to Hungary with her husband Paul to visit their son, adventuring with friends to Italy, the poignant last few months of her father’s life and, in the final essay, contemplating her new reality as her husband enters the beginning stages of dementia. Mourre’s stories are rich with detail and encouraged me to ponder my own life journey as I accompanied her through hers.

Many of the essays are centered around Rosetown and the surrounding areas where the author and her family have lived for many years. There are so many quintessentially Saskatchewan moments such as swimming at Waskesiu Lake, late night campfires at Outlook Park and visits to Pike Lake.

I loved Mourre’s description of visiting the old library in the basement of the community hall in Rosetown as a young girl, and her decision one summer before the start of Grade 8 to reread all her old favourites. I could almost feel the summer heat in the air as she walked down the mottled-green-linoleum-clad stairway towards the welcome, comforting smell of dusty old books. We join her on a leisurely stroll through the rows of shelves as she introduces us to her old friends: The Wind in the Willows, Black Beauty, Heidi, Nancy Drew and of course the inimitable Anne Shirley.

Mourre also explores the interconnectedness of spirituality and writing and considers how her faith has informed her writing. I found her observations fascinating.

This is her first foray into non -fiction and I’m already looking forward to her next. Her previous three books were all short story collections – two of which were finalists in the Saskatchewan Book Awards.

THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE AT YOUR LOCAL BOOKSTORE OR FROM WWW.SKBOOKS.COM