by Emma Hooper
I sent you letters, said Cora.
No one, said Finn.
I left you the houses.
No one, said Finn.
They drove past cairns, they drove past lichen blooms big as boats.
I’ve got dogs, said Cora. I’ve got dogs for you. Real dogs.
Out west.
Yes.
Finn put his hand up against the window. They drove past terns and gulls and guillemots. You have more freckles, he said. You’re different.
Yeah? said Cora.
Yeah.
• • •
Dinner was large and long, with meat and bread and chocolate from the ferry and whiskey for the adults and a tiny bit for Cora. The wind picked up against the windows and wove around their voices, the same voices as always and the same wind as always and everything, everything, was the same, perfectly the same as always.
And then the sun began to set and Finn said,
OK, it’s time now.
And Aidan and Martha and Cora said,
OK.
• • •
Aidan rowed over to Little Running and met Mrs. Callaghan, who was waiting barefoot, ankle-deep in the water, accordion on and hair swept up and back. Ready, she said.
There was a knock on the door; Finn opened it.
I’m ready, said Sophie McKinley. Richard Peterson stood beside her, holding a French horn without a case.
WE’RE READY, he said.
• • •
Aidan and Mrs. Callaghan rowed into sight just as the last bit of light left the sky. He rowed them to the shallows, then anchored and helped her out, into the water, accordion on her front like a child. Her skirts were pinned up but the water still reached them, bleeding into her dress. Aidan stood beside her, one arm out to keep her steady.
Wait, said Cora. Wait . . . She handed Sophie her violin and ran back to shore, to the house nearest them, Thailand! She came back with a telephone, dragging its wires out across the stones. They know the song too, she said. They’re going to sing too. She dialed the Deep Wood lounge and Katya, ready at the other end, picked up and held the receiver out to a circle of workers, a circle of men. Cora handed the phone to Martha and took back her violin. OK, she said. Ready, I’m ready.
Finn lifted his accordion and stepped into the water, feet cold on wet stone. He walked out through the low waves and the others followed until they were all up to their knees. OK, said Finn,
and he took a deep breath
and Aidan took a deep breath
and Martha held out the phone
and Sophie lifted her beater
and Richard put his mouth to his horn
and Mrs. Callaghan pulled open her bellows
and Cora lifted her bow
and the stars shone down
and the green lights shone up
and the flags pulled and pulled in the wind
and all around them the water,
the water,
the water
was dark and empty and waiting,
ready.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you
Mark, who was making beautiful nets long before me, and who showed me the island,
and Jeff, who helped me explore it.
Lee and Jim, for a frozen, perfect cottage.
Chiara Braggion for the Italian,
Abel Selaocoe for the Afrikaans.
Iris and Fogo Island Arts for a bit of time
in the Doctor House.
The Macdowell Colony for picnic baskets and swimming and time, time, time.
Cathryn and Annemarie, for being out there for me.
Kirsty and Jay for being readers, thinkers, helpers.
Nicole and Marysue and Juliet, for guiding, editing, polishing, waiting.
And Ione
and Rick
and Chris
and Erin
and Charlie
and Aubrey,
my always inspiration.
Books by Emma Hooper
This “poetic, poignant” (US Weekly) debut features last great adventures, unlikely heroes, and a “sweet, disarming story of lasting love” (The New York Times Book Review). Eighty-three-year-old Etta has never seen the ocean. So early one morning she takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots and begins walking the 3,232 kilometers from rural Saskatchewan, Canada eastward to the sea. As Etta walks further toward the crashing waves, the lines among memory, illusion, and reality blur. Otto wakes to a note left on the kitchen table. “I will try to remember to come back,” Etta writes to her husband.
Etta and Otto and Russell and James
* * *
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AUTHOR’S NOTE REGARDING SONGS
Many of the songs referenced in this novel are traditional folk songs of mixed Old and New World lineage. For those interested, I’ll take a few words to discuss some of them here.
“She’s Like the Swallow” is perhaps one of Newfoundland’s best-known and most celebrated songs. It was first collected in 1930 by Maud Karpeles, who described the singer she collected it from as “old and childish.” It has scattered English roots (although there are some who dispute this), and is remarkable among the Newfoundland folk-song canon for two reasons. First, the melody is modal, meaning it’s based on a scale that’s neither major nor minor, a rare thing for songs in this region, lending it a melancholic, ancient feel. Second, it’s not a fishing, boating or work song, but instead has the more Old World theme of ill-fated love.
The origins of “The Fish of the Sea” aren’t entirely clear (or agreed upon). Though it most likely stems from a Scottish sea shanty, there are a number of versions, including at least one variation distinct to Canada. In traditional shanty format, the verses would be sung solo, by the “shantyman,” with all the other sailors joining in together on each chorus. Shanties would often be sung while working, hauling or heaving, to keep the sailors coordinated in time with each other.
“The Water Is Wide” is probably the oldest song mentioned in this book. A folk song of Scottish and English origins, it’s based on lyrics that partly date back to the 1600s. Cecil Sharp first officially published the song in his 1906 book Folk Songs from Somerset. It’s been popular ever since, arranged, performed and recorded by an impressive array of artists, including Benjamin Britten, Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Neil Young, Joan Baez, Enya and the Indigo Girls among many, many others.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© SEAN MAYLON
EMMA HOOPER is an author, musician and academic. She lives in England but comes home to cross-country ski in Canada whenever she can.
Visit her online at emmahooper.ca.
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
SimonandSchuster.com
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Emma-Hooper
@simonbooks
ALSO BY EMMA HOOPER
Etta and Otto and Russell and James
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition August 2018
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Interior design by Ruth Lee-Mui
Jacket design by Lauren Harms
Jacket art: Iceberg by Vl Adwel/Shut Terstock; Polar Bear by Semiankova Inha/Shut Terstock
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hooper, Emma, author.
Title: Our homesick songs : a novel / Emma Hooper.
Description: First Simon & Schuster hardcover edition. | New York : Simon & Schuster, 2018.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017040900| ISBN 9781501124488 (hardcover) |
ISBN 9781501124501 (trade pbk.) | ISBN 9781501124525 (ebook)
Classification: LCC PR9199.4.H6495 O97 2018 | DDC 813/.6—dc23 LC record
available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017040900
ISBN 978-1-5011-2448-8
ISBN 978-1-5011-2452-5 (ebook)