The Coral Bride by Roxeanne Bouchard
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Roxanne Bouchard writes like a poet who has known back-breaking manual labour. Reeling in lobster nets was how she researched her critically acclaimed first novel, We Were The Salt of the Sea, which is currently top of my to-be-read list. David Warriner’s superb translation enhances the lyrical language of The Coral Bride. Sentences like ‘The sea is a liar and all men are traitors!’ can make a susceptible reader’s heart beat faster.
When an abandoned lobster trawler is found adrift off the coast of Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, DS Joaquin Moralès begins a straightforward search for the boat ’s missing captain, Angel Roberts – a woman in a male-dominated world. But Moralès finds himself blocked at every turn – by his police colleagues, by fisheries bureaucrats, and by his grown-up son, who has turned up at his door with a host of his own personal problems. When Angel’s body is finally discovered, it ’s clear something very sinister is afoot, and Moralès and son are pulled into murky, dangerous waters, where old resentments run deep.
While reading Bouchard’s evocative descriptions of the Gaspé Peninsula, you can almost smell the ocean air. The district is so rich in stunning seascapes, it’s no wonder their bewitching beauty holds generations of mariners captive. DS Joaquin Moralès appears to fall under the same spell, while he struggles to understand the complexities surrounding the death of Angel Roberts, one of a tiny minority of sea-captains who happen to be female.
The world of fishing is overwhelmingly male-dominated, so Angel’s decision to buy her own boat and captain it herself attracts a huge amount of negative attention. Because the ownership of boats is woven into family relationships, suspicion inevitably falls on her father and brothers. Angel adored her husband of ten years, Clement Cyr, who also captains his own boat. At first, I thought two fishing boats were one too many for a married couple, and found it hard to understand why Angel chose not to work with her husband. Reading further into the book, I realised that if they each owned a shop, I would not have questioned her choice. The situation is not so different, because on one level, The Coral Bride is all about making money.
The numerous feuds between Gaspé fishing families, nurtured over generations, were triggered by lack of access to different types of catch. Over the years, government interference in the fishing industry has set fishermen at loggerheads, because less access to high-value fish means lower profits in the marketplace. It is inevitable that competition at this level will, at times, become personal, and the sight of a woman taking control of her own economic power is bound to infuriate a certain type of man. Moralès must decide whether Angel was driven to suicide by the conflicts surrounding her, or murdered, perhaps because someone resented her independence.
Along the way, Moralès has to deal with problems of his own. His wife of thirty years goes rogue just as their grown-up son arrives for a long visit, carrying with him all the baggage of a failed relationship. An eccentric colleague, Érik Lefebvre, is not up to the job, and he has to work with a temptingly attractive fisheries officer, Simone Lord, who dislikes him.
Bouchard has created an entire phalanx of realistic and convincing characters, some of whom might have walked into the novel straight from real life. Angel’s brother Jimmy, in particular, struck a note with me. Broken-hearted Clement will arouse much sympathy, yoga teacher Kimo, perhaps, rather less. Dotrice, the ‘seer’, introduces a mystical element, giving this multi-faceted novel yet another intriguing aspect.
Considering all the financial feuding bubbling under the surface of this picturesque coastal community, my favourite line in The Coral Bride comes from teacher Genevieve. ‘When we love the sea, doesn’t that make us rich enough?
