Barbara Kay knows a thing or two about good writing. As one
Canada’s most widely read columnists in the National Post, she’s expressed
herself forcefully and cogently for years, never mincing her words, garnering
the applause of readers and sometimes their ire. Anyone approaching her debut fiction
may understandably ask themselves, is Kay as compelling at crafting narrative
as she is at opinionating? The answer is an emphatic yes. Many of the strengths
evident in her editorials also feature robustly in her fiction. A Three Day
Event is, at first glance, a crime novel set at an equestrian center in rural Quebec.
The reader is steeped in the high stakes (and elitist) culture and politics of
equestrian recreation and sport. But it’s the manner in which Kay employs the
backdrop of heightened political, linguistic, and cultural tensions that
provides this novel with added dimensions. The action pivots on the murder of a
widely loathed groom, a crime complicated by anti-Semitic vandalism and the bizarre
mutilation of a prized stallion. The equestrian center is owned by a Jew
married to a Quebecoise. It is immediately apparent that Kay is set on
exploring much more than the evil deeds perpetrated by a lowly disgruntled
bigot. The insular, monied world of horse sport frames an intricate tapestry of
relationships weaving together hidden agendas, professional ambitions,
resentments, grudges, secrets and love affairs. The protagonist is Polo
Poisson, who, although born in a stereotypical Quebecois family on the wrong
side of the tracks, has been intriguingly, raised by upper-crust Jews to become
a champion horseman. Polo is an unprecedented ethnic creation in Canadian fiction,
a melding of immigrant Jewish and pure
laine Quebecois; a tortiere pie baked in a poppy seed bagel crust. It’s a
wonder that Kay can pull off such a character successfully, which she does, and
the story of how Polo arrived on the steps of his adopted family is as
touchingly believable as it is unusual. It’s up to Polo to solve the murder, and
it’s his mixed background that provides him with the intellectual and emotional
tools required to tease out the convolutions of the crime. If there is a flaw
to the novel it’s one of ambition. Kay’s reach sometimes exceeds her grasp and
there is a lot to digest with so many characters operating at cross purposes including
the equestrian center staff and members of the ownership family, a champion
rider, a veterinarian, the horse owning clients, and committee members from the
equestrian federation. Some characters get short shrift, like Toronto journalist
Sue Parker who shows up investigating illegal practices in the international sale
of sport horses. But this is ultimately Polo’s story and Kay wants us to
consider the way his fractured personal history has affected his present and
future. It is apparent that Polo is emblematic of our multi-ethnic,
multi-linguistic, multi-faceted nation. He embodies multiple influences and
loyalties that cannot easily be reconciled. In creating Polo, Kay has a point
to make and she does is with nuance and grace: The key to personal reconciliation
is found in family responsibility.
