Caprice

Twice a recipient of Canada's Governor-General's Award, Bowering sets his new novel in western Canada 100 years ago, where a young woman named Caprice sets out to avenge the killing of her brother. Nearly six feet tall and red-headed, Caprice rides her black stallion to Mexico and back, never far behind the murderer. Wherever she goes, people are struck by her beauty, her unconventional behavior and her skill at handling a bull whip. She is not necessarily happy on her mission but nevertheless withstands the importunings of her lover, a teacher and amateur baseball player, to marry him and leave retribution to the provincials and the Mounties. Minor characters fill out this intentionally overblown Western, not the least of whom are an old Indian shaman and his protege who, observing Caprice, conduct a discourse worthy of an analyst's office. Caprice is larger than life, a heroine to match all the genre's heroes. Bowering writes with wit and authority, but his novel is still a spoof, an inadequate format for the vivid and memorable characters he creates. (January 14)