If you were to unravel your family story, follow its threads across time and place, where would it lead you? In Marilyn Bowering’s The Unfinished World, the journey is tinged with magic. It carries the reader from prehistoric Spain to ancient Greece, from the bellies of ships to the wilderness of remote islands and mysterious kingdoms. But Bowering’s novel is not a fantastical epic. It is a modern tale of loss and self-discovery, as one woman navigates the aftermath of her grandmother’s death. Grief anchors it in reality, as do the many problems plaguing us today, like environmental degradation and economic inequality.

If you are confused as to how all these elements come together into a cohesive narrative, trust in Bowering; she will surprise you at every corner. Her story centres around Pearl, a well-meaning but messy twenty-something writing about foraging and food, while hiding from failed love and financial woes (a classic combination). When her grandmother Nora dies, it changes the course of Pearl’s life. She decides to retrace Nora’s last journey. 

At every stop – Nora’s charming old house, her rickety cabin in the woods, and the shelter she owned by a river – Pearl uncovers a doll, handmade and passed down through generations. Each doll represents one of Pearl and Nora’s ancestors, or so we’re meant to believe. Here is where the magic seeps in. The dolls are accompanied by a note from Nora, begging Pearl to write their stories. “When you write the story, don’t forget to put that in,” instructs each note containing a fact about the doll. These folktales break up the narrative of Pearl’s trip. They tell of Pythagoras’ wife chatting philosophy with a poet, a Spanish troubadour saving a girl from a siege, an orphan named Rib following a cat on an adventure, and stowaway twins seeking out a new life at sea. In parallel,  back in the real world, Pearl reconnects with family members, works at a fish plant, falls in love, and discovers the life her grandmother left behind. 

This book truly delighted me; it’s imaginative and intelligent, peppered with poetic and mythical detours. The tonal differences between Pearl’s story and her storytelling are obvious at first, but just when you find your balance between real and unreal, Bowering blurs the lines. The more Pearl delves into the wild world where her grandmother once resided, the more her story becomes tangled with nature, and the more her own magic is revealed. Of course, she is not casting spells – it’s not that kind of magic. But there is something about Pearl. She charms instantly, animals flock to her, she calms fish and swims with them. The last tale to be told is her own; as she discovers her purpose through her grandmother’s legacy, she becomes a part of her family’s lore.

The Unfinished World reminds us of the power of storytelling, of remembering those we have lost and learning from them. Bowering writes: “Not every story can be told, Pearl writing, reminds herself; most are stored forever within those who lived them, and not everyone can bear their telling.” The book’s title bothered me at first; it seemed to hint at something incomplete, yet, to me, Bowering’s world is anything but. It’s made up of so many different people and places, described in rich detail and dispersed across history. In the end, I understood its meaning. Every world opens a door to a new one, to a new life. Her world is unfinished because it’s endless, because we are still weaving our own stories into it.

For this first-time Bowering reader, this was a beautiful introduction to her work, which includes award-winning non-fiction, essays, and poetry. Just like Pearl chasing dolls and their stories, I want to trace my way back through her bibliography and see what other marvels are hiding there.mRb