Our present-day Dido is the olive-skinned daughter of a Latin teacher, raised in Europe and come to Canada to cause confusion in the hearts of men and women, perhaps because she herself is romantically (and possibly sexually) ambivalent. The other fantastic theme is pure myth, the story of Queen Dido of Carthage. There is so much musing about that fateful event that a canoe trip to the Thelon is inevitable. Gwen, who has read The Legend of John Hornby several times, reminds Harry of Edgar Christian, who died with Hornby. One is the story of John Hornby, whose death in the Thelon in 1927 has reached an almost mythical status. Overlaid against all this local colour are a couple of fantastic themes. More than one character disappears in the blink of an eye.

You’ll find out.” People depart as suddenly as they arrive. Yellowknife, she thinks, is “a place where anyone could make a fresh start.”īut it’s also a place that can get to you after a while, as it did to Eleanor’s former roommate, “who’d decided suddenly she couldn’t face one more day in Yellowknife.” Another says, “Winter here does terrible things to people. Gwen, younger than the rest, is the only one who has not married.

Harry returns North, disgraced after an unsuccessful jump to TV.

Eleanor had the misfortune to love a man who did not want to consummate their union. Dido married a man younger than herself, only to fall in love with someone much older – her father-in-law. They all work at the CBC radio station, and have come North to leave something behind.ĭido and Eleanor are escaping unworkable marriages. Late Nights on Air revolves around four main characters – Dido Paris, Harry Boyd, Gwen Symon, and Eleanor Dew.

Lady Franklin's Revenge by Ken McGoogan