Mixing genres across realism, myth, dreamscape, and dystopia, all conveyed in Bob MacKenzie’s assured poetic prose, The Miriam Conspiracy explores questions related to ancient times as well as recent Canadian history, religious ritual, biblical prophecy, and the future. This is balanced by a certain realism as MacKenzie masterfully evokes the barren wasteland of dead mines, the vagaries of weather, and the loneliness that afflicted lives in the Canadian West of the early twentieth century. Unbalanced by the tragic deaths of her parents and siblings and the isolation of their early 20th-Century prairie homestead, Miriam Campbell writes eccentric personal revelations in her private journal. Miriam becomes an unwilling prophet when her unscrupulous sister and corrupt politicians use her thoughts as the basis of a cult and an intended coup by a powerful underground political party. Drawing on biblical as well as Egyptian, Greek and First Nations sources, The Miriam Conspiracy blends realism with myth to weave the story of an unholy alliance of religion and politics in Alberta. MacKenzie warns us that the Alberta of his novel does not exist. But, given the fervent unorthodox religiosity that has marked much of the political history of this western province, could there just possibly be a kernel of reality in his narrative? This is, after all, a double-edged thriller that follows Dr. Hank Lofgren, an Indiana Jones style archaeologist, and his students Zach Kirk and Elvie Rafferty as they try to make sense of dream visions, paranormal experiences, a powerful religio-political cult, and Miriam Campbell. The result is a dark tale that is a thoroughly enjoyable read. |
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