@ William Deverell.com

WHEN FICTION FORETELLS REALITY

Globe and Mail, Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Elizabeth May gets elected

Jane Taber

In author William Deverell’s fantasy world, the leader of the Green
Party has a seat in the House of Commons and a man named Huck Finnerty
is prime minister - a jovial, easy-going guy with a sense of humour
and a “devotee of strong drink and junk food.” In an interview
yesterday about his political thriller, Snow Job, Mr. Deverell joked
that he didn’t want to get sued, so he played with the prime
minister’s personality.

The novel, set in Ottawa, is appropriately named. (In fact, Mr.
Deverell, who is from the balmy Gulf Islands, researched his novel two
winters ago when a snowfall record was nearly set.) Mr. Deverell had
lots of access to the inner sanctum as Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s
communications staff took him around. And in his Author’s Note, he
thanks Carolyn Stewart Olsen, who was in the PMO, for arranging visits
around Parliament Hill. She was recently appointed to the Senate.

“What seems not interesting at first glance is the thought of a
political novel set in Canada,” said Mr. Deverell, who was in Ottawa
this week and attended Monday’s raucous Question Period. “Political
thriller is sort of an oxymoron, right? But not so. I think there’s
probably more fun and foolishness and adventure on Parliament Hill
than there is in the Senate in Washington or the Parliament of
England. We tend to downplay ourselves.”

Mr. Deverell, who is also a lawyer, is a wannabe politician, having
run three times for the NDP - all unsuccessfully. He says “thank God”
he never won as he would not have become an author. “I would be a
backstabbing politician.”

His novel features his usual protaganist, Arthur Beauchamp, a retired
lawyer and courtroom star, whose wife is the Green Party leader,
Margaret Blake. All sorts of shenanigans and scandals, political and
domestic, ensue. The author, meanwhile, is a great friend, supporter
and fan of Green Party Leader Elizabeth May.

And the fictional character, Ms. Blake, represents a riding in B.C.’s
Gulf Islands, which takes in the real seat Ms. May is seeking in the
next election. Ms. May, who received an early manuscript of the book
around the same time as she was considering running in the
Saanich-Gulf Islands riding, was thrilled. “I said, ‘this is great’,
Bill already has me elected!”

This novel is great to read.It gives us an idea about reality and fiction.

Posted by on 08/10