Eye Lake

June 11, 2012
In his solidly crafted and nostalgic fourth novel, Hughes (Revenant) takes readers to the shrinking village of Crooked River in British Columbia on the shores of Eye Lake, where a series of disappearances haunt the life of the grandson and last descendant of Clarence O'Callaghan, the town's eccentric founder. Eli O'Callaghan is a simpleton and the pity of the townspeople; his mother died soon after birthing him, his father committed suicide, and his wise uncle Virgil and Finnish grandmother Nana have also passed away. He lives on borrowed land as a caretaker, courtesy of the Bryce family, whose patriarch discovered iron ore in a local lake and became wealthy, thereby overshadowing the O'Callaghan's legacy. But when Eli embarks on a solitary fishing trip to Eye Lakeâwhose water level plummets as its feeder river changes courseâhe discovers a relic of his estimable heritage: his missing grandfather's wooden castle, which was covered by floodwaters when the river was diverted to accommodate the ore mining. Thus begin parallel histories of Crooked River; Eli recalls tales of the mysterious vanishing of Clarence and Eli's childhood friend George. Though drawn to the past, the disappearance of another young boy forces Eli to snap back to the present and fight for the future.