McArthur & Company
~ Review in Halifax Herald, May 2010
Howard Coulter is farm boy from Manitoba in 1941. He signs up to defend his Queen and country and is at the front lines when the Japanese advance on Hong Kong. After bitter fighting, Hong Kong falls and he becomes a prisoner of war, imprisoned is a PoW camp by a nation who refused to recognize the Geneva Convention. The conditions in the camp are ghastly, disease and hunger shrink the ranks of survivors and the cruelty of the guards create conditions where survival is a feat of monumental courage and hope.
The experience alters Howard’s life profoundly. Back in Canada after the war, he dissociates and drinks, as he and his family struggle to cope. When his wife dies in somewhat mysterious circumstances, he loses all hope and his family founders.
Surprisingly, The Promise of Rain is a gentle book, following two story lines. The first takes an observer position as we watch Howard’s desperate struggle for survival in the PoW camp. The second narrator is eleven year old Ethie, Howard’s daughter. Ethie is a keen observer. Her clear voice is strong and observant, carrying the story as it slides between the PoW camp in Hong Kong and her falling apart world. Tension builds quietly but inexorably.
The Promise of Rain explores the unbreakable bonds of family, and the devastating impact of war on the psyches of those who are sent to fight.
Donna Milner grew up in Vancouver and started writing after 25 years in Real Estate. Her first novel, After River, has been translated into six languages in twelve countries. She lives off the grid, north of Williams Lake in British Columbia.
