A generation back from THE STRENGTH OF EGGSHELLS, but continuing the theme of generations of families interwoven with events, THE STRENGTH OF OLD SHALE goes right back to 1861, through to a more current timeline in which Ariel has moved from her childhood home on an isolated farm in New Zealand, to university in Dunedin. She's drawn to the stories of the past though, with the other timeline in the novel referring to Isbelll's life in the 1860's, after she left behind a depression in her homeland of Shetland, moving through Ballarat to the New Zealand goldfields, caring for Cobb and Co coach horses.
Revolving around the discovery of the skeletons of a woman and child, wrapped in a lace shawl from Shetland, in a long forgotten graveyard, Isbell's world and the more current day one of Ariel's come together in a way that looks to explain how the past affects the present, and family ties bind over generations.
Powell's earlier novel used a similar concept, and whilst she's taken a deep look into places and the historical aspects of her stories, in this case, her development of character is not as strong, making a connection with anybody in the novel harder to come by. The timeline switches in this one are also not quite as successful as the earlier novel I was fortunate to read - perhaps because the historical aspects were so interesting and really delved into, whereas the current timeline felt flat and a tad forced.
Whilst it's not necessary to have read the earlier novel, so far it's been the one that really worked best for this reader at least.
The Strength of Old Shale
When bones of a mother and her child, wrapped in a Shetland lace shawl, are dug up from a forgotten graveyard, two worlds collide.
Ariel is raised on an isolated farm in New Zealand. She’s tough but when she’s blamed for an accident for which she has no recollection, her world implodes. Ariel seeks refuge back at university in Dunedin where she prefers the company of old gold-miners bones to real people.
Isbell is also tough and running from ghosts. As a young woman she has left behind depression times in Shetland and now makes her way from Ballarat, Australia to the New Zealand goldfields caring for 54 Cobb and Co coach horses in the hold of the SS India. The year is1861.
Is there a link between these two worlds, wrapped in that old shale?
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