(43. – 930.) Whipped by William Deverell – Arthur Beauchamp is determinedly
tending to his vegetables, goats, sheep and chickens on Garibaldi Island, one
of the Gulf Islands, near Vancouver while his wife, Margaret Blake, with equal
determination fights for environmental causes as the leader of the Green Party
in Parliament in Ottawa. There could not be a greater difference in lifestyles.
Many days Arthur walks to the
general store, a 7 km round trip, to pick up his mail and supplies such as
netting to keep the robins off his strawberries. He enjoys conversations over a
tea and muffin at the Brig, the local tavern. On his return he may savour some
of the Roman poets, in Latin of course.
Margaret’s days in Ottawa are a
scripted blur. She roars through meetings, addresses the myriad details of
running a political party, works out policy positions with her staff, considers
a coming election with the Deputy Leader and makes sure to attend sessions of
Parliament.
Margot is a firebrand. There are not
many in Canadian politics. While our politicians are not always as nice as the
rest of us they strive for a gravitas and non-offensive speaking style that can
make it hard to distinguish between them.
Margaret has no trouble speaking her
mind. Words explode from her emotions. One fractious encounter with the
Minister for the Environment, Emil Farquist, begins over a proposed oil
pipeline to the West Coast and continues on to the effects of fracking for
natural gas. The exchange, started in Parliament, extends to a media scrum in
the hallway. Margaret gets off a parting shot by yelling “Frack you” at the
Minister.
Back on the island a new movement
has arrived. The Personal Transformation Mission Society establishes itself at
Starkers Cove. Their handsome, even beautiful, guru, Jason Silverson is
enticing islanders to join his devotees known as Transformers.
Back in Ottawa the Green Party is
proving that it is like all other parties in digging for political dirt.
Margaret meets with a journalist in Montreal, Lou Sabitino, who shows her a
video of The Honourable Farquist engaged in a spirited session of BDSM with a
dominatrix, Svetlana.
As Margaret ponders how to use the
information she indiscreetly describes the video over an open microphone at a
conference. Her words are overheard and become a viral sensation when tweeted.
The Minister immediately launches a
massive lawsuit asserting defamation.
Margaret convinces Arthur, her life
companion (the newest politically correct phrase for a spouse), to yet again
interrupt his retirement to return to the courtroom to defend her. There will
be no retreat from her dramatic description of the Minister being whipped. Her
plea is that the words were the truth. It is a perilous approach to defending
defamation. Should the defence not be able to prove truth in court the
judgment will be far higher as there has been no apology and the integrity of
the plaintiff has been further damaged by the failure to prove the defamatory
words were truthful. Margaret is undaunted by the risks but the reporter and
the dominatrix have disappeared.
In some books having a spouse as
your lawyer would be implausible. Adding to the challenge is that Arthur has
practiced criminal defence not civil litigation. Deverell makes Arthur’s
representation of Margaret convincing. Arthur does not succumb to emotional
excess. He keeps the process in perspective. Most important for credibility he
draws on juniors in the firm with extensive experience in civil actions to
assist him. Most realistically tensions arise between the lawyer and client
arising from the marital relationship.
The story rollicks forward with The
Transformers agitating the island folk as they promote love and peace while freely
distributing a special drink, Gupa. As for Margaret she is fighting a two sided
war - a fall election and the lawsuit.
An issue I had not comtemplated is
raised in a newsletter published by a fictional national BDSM group. In today’s
world does a practictioner of BDSM, whether whipper or whippee, suffer damage to
his/her reputation by public relevation of their private pastime? You can only
get a large judgment in defamation by showing actual damage to your reputation.
Certainly political pretension is skewered in the book.
Tension rises through the winter. Svetlana
has left Canada and a private investigator cannot find Lou. Readers learn Lou
has found refuge in a rural Saskatchewan town with a real name. (I will discuss
his experiences and the town in my next post.)
Deverell proves that civil
litigation, here defamation, can be as interesting as a criminal case for a
legal mystey. It may be that authors are grasping the possibilities of
fictional civil cases. My favourite fiction of 2017 was Last Days of Night in which Thomas Edison and George Westinghouse
were battling in court over alleged patent infringement concerning the light
bulb.
And, as always, Deverell is witty
throughout the book.
I admit I've not (yet) read this one, Bill. But I can easily imagine Margaret Blake getting into exactly that difficult situation. She certainly does speak her mind, doesn't she? It sounds as though there's suspense here as well as a good story, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteMargot: Thanks for the comment. Margaret has become as important a character as Arthur. The dynamics of their relationship are an important part of the story of Whipped.
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