Referendum, personal regrets shape Elizabeth Hay’s new novel, ‘His Whole Life’

TORONTO – Strong personal regrets and a fascination with how Canadians have been shaped by the 1995 Quebec referendum played a role in the genesis of Elizabeth Hay’s new novel, “His Whole Life.”

The story centres on Jim, a young boy who desperately wants a dog.

Hay says she now wishes she got her own son a dog when he really wanted one.

“And earlier in my life, long before I had children, I was in a relationship, a marriage actually, that ended and we gave away our dog, which was also a huge regret,” says Hay during a telephone interview from her Ottawa home.

“And then a third regret, if you like, I never managed to convince my children that Canada is an interesting place to live your life.

“So I thought in this book I could give the boy a dog and I would have him be extremely attached to Canada. But it wouldn’t be simple because the boy would have a Canadian mother and an American father and there’d be this kind of cross-border division of loyalties in his life.”

Hay, who was born in Owen Sound, Ont., and lived in New York with her American husband for six years, dedicates “His Whole Life” (McClelland & Stewart) to their son and daughter, “reluctant Canadians.”

“My son was four and my daughter was seven when I dragged everybody to Canada (in 1992), what for me was home, and I don’t think my kids have ever forgiven me for robbing them of New York,” she says.

“Ottawa doesn’t compare to New York.”

Hay, who won the Scotiabank Giller Prize for her 2007 novel “Late Nights on Air,” also wanted to write a book in which the mother and son are dominant and the father is a fifth wheel who, in the end, has the last laugh.

As “His Whole Life” opens, Canadian expat Nan and her American husband George are travelling from New York with their son to a lake in eastern Ontario, as they do every summer.

Ten-year-old Jim asks his parents what is the worst thing they’ve ever done, a question that resonates throughout the novel.

Nan eventually figures out what her son needs to hear. The reader learns about the boy’s “worst thing,” though Jim never reveals it to his mother.

“And then the question itself takes a turn,” Hay says. “What if the worst thing is also your best thing?

“This is a personal question for Nan: If something that she’s done, which at one time she thought was actually a good thing to do, in hindsight is really one of the worst things she’s done.

“And it plays on the political level too in terms of (former prime minister Pierre) Trudeau in his dealings with Quebec. In bringing the Constitution home without getting Quebec’s approval, did he do more harm than good?”

In using the referendum — in which Quebecers voted on whether to form a sovereign state — as a backdrop, Hay portrays a family that’s staying together and falling apart at the same time that Canada was in turmoil.

Hay is also the author of “Alone in the Classroom” and “A Student of Weather,” a Giller finalist in 2000, along with many short stories. She’s been nominated twice for the Governor General’s Award, for “Small Change” in 1997 and “Garbo Laughs” in 2003.

She’s long been fascinated by the drama of the 1995 referendum and the whole nature of divided loyalty.

“How often in a country’s history do you have a situation where you get to really understand how much you care about a country? That’s what happened on one side,” she says.

“On the other side, for those who wanted an independent Quebec, the result was heartbreaking.”

Hay finds herself caught up in the current political drama as federal party leaders campaign for the Oct. 19 vote.

“I love elections although I don’t mean they give me any peace of mind. I have no peace of mind. I’m worried about the result of this one, but it’s fascinating to follow.”

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