Further afield led him to Rainy River, a town of 1,000 residents that existed to serve the railroad and railroad workers who passed through on a cross-country train. As the only Jewish family there, the Helmans could not access Kosher foods and supplies, synagogues, or Jewish community in general; such was their isolation that when a circus came into town with a Jewish owner, they invited him over for dinner just to spend time with someone familiar with the culture. Despite the challenges, the Helmans made a home there, and Toby learned that she was “able to remain true to my Jewish roots in spite of living in a non-Jewish world.”
Some rough pencil sketches punctuate the Gershfields’ memoir, suggesting the drawings elementary-school Toby might have made in 1940. Her volume of recollections, co-written with her son James, is idyllic, nostalgic, and illuminating of its time and place, capturing the texture of life as it was lived and a family and community as they held firm to themselves and flourished. Striking details abound: about winters with only a wood-burning stove for heat, about studying Torah in girls-only classes in Winnipeg; the surprise terror of first spotting the Northern Lights on a Halloween night in Rainy River. The memories are connected by theme more than narrative structure, but readers fascinated by the milieu will find welcome additions to the historical record.
Takeaway: Slice-of-life memoir of a Jewish upbringing in rural Ontario in the 1930s
Comparable Titles: Helen Waldstein Wilkes’s Letters From the Lost, Allen Levine’s Seeking the Fabled City.
Production grades
Cover: B+
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: B
Editing: A-
Marketing copy: A
Rainy River Girl offers a breath of fresh air, depicting the values of goodness, dignity, and innocence from the previous century. This inspirational story is in the form of short vignettes, as related by Toby to her son James.
Imagine if Farley Mowat's mother had had gefilte fish swimming in her bathtub instead of owls on her shoulder while she baked cakes. This is what makes Rainy River Girl so special. The sole Jewish family in a remote town 150 miles from Winnipeg were clueless when it came to the Canadian wilderness. They knew nothing about raising pets or encountering wild animals, but they made a life for several years in this harsh but beautiful environment. Toby Gershfield's recollections of her childhood are remarkably vivid and she makes it clear why they are worth returning to - both for herself and the reader.
