Embrace your roots. That’s the message of local author Harry Hobbs’ latest self-published novel, Circle of Roots.
“A lot of people I know are sort of ashamed of their roots, of who they are and what their families are,” says Hobbs.
“The theme of the book, basically in a sentence or two, would be that you shouldn’t be ashamed of who you are. Nobody in the world should be ashamed of who they are or where they come from.”
Hobbs conveys that lesson through his protagonist, Vanessa Miller, who first appeared as a minor character in his debut novel, A Dozen Years, in 2006.
Vanessa grew up in a poor, hard-working family that operated a 24-hour highway-side restaurant in rural Saskatchewan.
Eager for greener grass, she attends university and accepts a teaching job at a prestigious private school in Ontario.
After marrying the school chaplain, Vanessa returns home when her husband accepts a job as a parish priest in a community near the family restaurant.
She comes to accept that she could never run away from her origins.
Hobbs can relate to his lead character in that he once felt ashamed of certain aspects of his family and roots in Ontario.
“I’d say most of us, at times, are ashamed of things that have gone on in our past, ashamed of our families or ashamed of family situations,” he says.
“We go by people’s judgement and as I’ve learned in my life, people’s judgement isn’t necessarily right.”
Hobbs spent about a decade writing and editing the 307-page novel. His biggest challenge was ensuring sure all of the pieces came together in a cohesive way.
“It’s a very hard thing [to ensure] that something you say in one part of the novel doesn’t contradict [that information] later on,” he says.
While Hobbs set his novel in fictitious communities, he did borrow elements from real towns, including Flin Flon.
He also relied on a backdrop of real-life events ranging from the Great Depression of the 1920s and ’30s to the prosperous post-war 1950s.
“I find one of the blessings for modern writers, of course, is the internet. Almost everything you want [to know] is there,” Hobbs says.
Circle of Roots marks Hobbs’ third novel, though he also co-wrote a book of poetry with his wife, Glenda Walker-Hobbs, and edited another book of poetry.
A retired teacher and school librarian, Hobbs, 72, is currently penning some brief memoirs, though he has no plans to publish them at this stage.
Circle of Roots is available locally at the Flin Flon Public Library and Northern Rainbow’s End, and online through McNally Robinson Booksellers.
