A Tremor Through Time

Book excerpt: Tragic Coincidence A baby dies in a car accident on the way to a memorial mass, fifteen years to the day after the mining accident that took the life of his grandfather. This tragic coincidence set the stage for the author’s birth a year later. A Tremor Through Time is a memoir about the resilience of a young girl growing up in a family struggling with guilt and grief. It takes the reader from the author’s earliest memory of finding herself alone in a bus depot on her way home from kindergarten to her decision to leave home and attend university. The memoir moves between past and present connecting vignettes from the author’s youth—written from a child’s perspective—with contemporary scenes and conversations. Set in a northern mining town, moments of fun and friendship are interspersed with scenes of anger and apprehension that highlight an increasingly difficult relationship between father and daughter.