Ley Lines is a remarkable novel—a gold rush more Lewis Carroll than Robert Service, with hints of Homer, Dante, and possibly Jefferson Airplane. Set during the last days of the Klondike Gold Rush in the fictional boom town of Sawdust City, the story leads the reader through a labyrinth of deepening connections, portraying the collapse of the Klondike dream and the import of this “rush” to its citizens—and the earth. In the end, it is our relationship to the natural world and to one another that is explored.
The concept of ley lines began with the observation that certain historical sites appeared to be in line, and the idea evolved that these were not random connections, but ties imbued with special meaning—lines of energy forming bonds of possibly psychic significance. In Ley Lines, the characters move through a world where the possible and the impossible overlap. A ley lines world.
Chapter one establishes the mood of the last days of the gold rush. Welsh manages to evoke the remembered glamour while underscoring the grim desolation of the reality: “You know, one day, when they eulogize this place, it’ll be all gold and glamour. Nope, they’ll never mention the worst of it: litter everywhere, dead horses, thieves, bunco men.” (65)
The deterioration of this gold rush town is reversed by the abrupt arrival of the Ear, and the town rises to new heights of fortune. Then, just as abruptly, the moment passes, when for undisclosed reasons, a seemingly innocent character destroys the Ear. (There are also elements of Coleridge in this novel, it seems.)
With the shooting of the Ear and the release of the Nose, darkness descends over the world of the Klondike. The plot fragments now, with characters surfacing in new places, in different roles and guises. Vera for example reinvents herself several times, from successful miner to opium addict to printing press operator and union organizer. One character disappears into a bazaar, but passing through the bazaar leads to a new story in a new place. Another struggles through a cave and finds himself back in the life he left long ago, but with all his experiences in between informing how he now shapes his reality.
Initially, I found the changes in time, space, and connections frustrating—there was no element of prediction. No smooth plot progression. When I surrendered to the shifts and embraced them as they came, the story began to emerge as an organic whole. The world above shifting through time and space, and the world below something that must be embraced and experienced to find completion, like Dante descending to the depths of Hell to find the way past it. The plot became gripping—not for linear perfection, but for the intertwining and living totality it presented.
I also found myself thinking of Alice and caterpillars, while humming snatches of White Rabbit as I read.
When we meet the characters, we have no idea what directions they will take. Steve Ladle is a determined loser, companion of con-men, and failed prospector; yet he will undertake an odyssey that will ultimately lead him home. Through his journeys, he returns to a point that existed before his starting point in the story, but with new, life-changing knowledge.
An orphan raised by the mission, Sasha at one point will return to, and transform, the mission where she grew up. Yet she is always moving forward on an odyssey of her own: She finds and makes her own fortune, travelling onward to new places, helping others, experiencing and seeing the world.
Zeb arrives in the Yukon with the clumsy innocence of a cheechako; following the shooting of the Ear, he spirals into darkness, becoming a force of evil in society and the environment. The shooting of Zeb, incidentally, is a marvelous parody of The Shooting of Dan McGrew with hints of The Cremation of Sam McGee. There is something of Service in the story after all.
Marian feels the life force of the earth; her own physical pain reflects its suffering. It is she who, ultimately, will lead to the act that restores the balance, directing the return of what was taken from the earth.
There were elements that puzzled me, like journeys leading northward described as upriver, but these did not detract from the reading; the vivid characters, the intricacies of plot and theme, and the sharp descriptions held me. This line in particular remains with me:
“But this land, this rush, this moment—it makes queer bedfellows of us all. The distance between a saint and a sinner—between a heretic and a true believer—it grows narrow in the warped light of the ice.” (46)
What Tim Welsh is describing is closer to the real Klondike than many would like to recall. We cherish the flamboyance of the Gaslight Follies and the image of the lone prospector panning for gold in a pristine stream framed by majestic mountains. We overlook the misery and despair of Louse Town, the clusters of hopeful miners shivering in clothes meant for an urban summer stroll, the accounts of swindlers and criminals, the images of land laid raw and bare with no concern for erosion.
In this novel, both darkness and hope are present. That makes for a very satisfying read, because both are part of all life.
If you go to the Yukon, you will see the erosion and violence done to the land, and also majestic sights like Grey Mountain rising above. You will witness the darkness that grows in August but also discover hope in the sunlit July nights. In this novel, both darkness and hope are present. That makes for a very satisfying read, because both are part of all life. I highly recommend this book.
Tim Welsh was born in Ithaca, New York and raised in Ottawa, Canada, where he completed an MA in English Language and Literature at Carleton University. He now lives in Toronto. Ley Lines is his first novel.
Publisher: Guernica Editions (May 1, 2025)
Paperback 8″ x 5″ | 311 pages
ISBN: 9781771839563
- Anne Smith-Nochasakhttps://miramichireader.ca/author/annesn/
- Anne Smith-Nochasakhttps://miramichireader.ca/author/annesn/
- Anne Smith-Nochasakhttps://miramichireader.ca/author/annesn/
- Anne Smith-Nochasakhttps://miramichireader.ca/author/annesn/
- Anne Smith-Nochasakhttps://miramichireader.ca/author/annesn/
- Anne Smith-Nochasakhttps://miramichireader.ca/author/annesn/
