Ile D’Or
by Mary Lou Dickenson | Inanna Poetry and Fiction Series (November 1, 2012)
I met Mary Lou Dickinson by chance when I arranged to see her newly renovated kitchen and bathroom because I was considering using the same contractor. We discovered we were both authors and decided to exchange books.
Mary Lou gave me Ile D’Or, and I gave her Joey and His Friend Water. I thoroughly enjoyed Ile D’Or. It made me think of returning to my hometown in South Africa, Johannesburg, also a mining town, much bigger than Ile D’Or and no longer ‘frontier’. However, the feeling I felt visiting and the sense of familiarity and strangeness that the book evokes for the four people who return to Ile D’Or was authentic for me.
The book is about four people in their forties who had grown up in Ile D’Or and encountered each other unexpectedly. They are all trying to find meaning in their lives by reviewing their pasts. It is a beautiful novel that weaves in politics, language, and emotions very sensitively. The descriptions of the scenery are compelling and made me want to see it for myself.
A list of her books is on Mary Lou’s website at https://www.maryloudickinson.com/. You can purchase her books through Amazon.