''The Swing in the Garden'', first published in 1975 by

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...

, is a novel by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

author

Hugh Hood Hugh John Blagdon Hood, OC (b in Toronto, Ontario 30 Apr 1928 – d in Montreal, Quebec 1 Aug 2000) was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist and university professor. Hood wrote 32 books: 17 novels including the 12-volume New Age ...

and the first in his ambitious 12-novel cycle, The New Age. It is followed by ''A New Athens''.

Plot and setting

This first book in the New Age series deals with narrator Matt Goderich's childhood and formative years growing up in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and

Jackson's Point, Ontario Jackson's Point is a summer resort harbour located in the township of Georgina, on Lake Simcoe in Ontario, Canada. It was originally part of a naval land grant made to Captain William Bourchier (December 09, 1791-January 22, 1844) in 1819 (Bourch ...

in the 1930s. The family lives in the idyllic Summerville neighborhood until his father Andrew, a confirmed socialist, loses his job as a university professor for political reasons. Andrew Goderich then purchases the Lazy Bay Grill in Jackson's Point and the family runs this business for some time, eventually running out of money because they are overstaffed and are too kind to let anyone go. Later they manage a ramshackle hotel, the Lakeview, on the

Toronto Islands The Toronto Islands are a chain of 15 small islands in Lake Ontario, south of mainland Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the only group of islands in the western part of Lake Ontario, the Toronto Islands are located just offshore from the ...

Themes

Hood's observational style and attention to detail bring to life a 1930s

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

in the midst of dramatic social change. Canada is slowly growing away from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and developing ever-closer ties with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In Toronto, strongly felt class structures divide neighborhoods hard-hit by the Depression, while in the surrounding area, pristine forest is turned into cottage country for the increasingly wealthy Toronto elites. As the clouds of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

loom on the horizon, the narrator and Canada itself both struggle through growing pains in their search for an identity.

Reception

The ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as ''The Bytown Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the '' ...

'' gave a mixed review, criticizing the characters and plot, but praising the use of allegories and "frequent elegancies of style".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swing in the Garden 1975 Canadian novels Novels by Hugh Hood Novels set in Ontario Novels set in the 1930s