The Last Crossing is by Saskatchewan author Guy Vanderhaeghe, who has twice won Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award. It is 1871 and a strange and varied group gather together in Fort Benton, Montana. They are forming a search party and plan to head north into the British Territory, someday to be known as Canada.

Two English gentlemen, brothers Charles and Addington, are searching for Simon, the twin brother of Charles, who came to the west to be a missionary to the Blackfoot Indians, but hasn’t been heard from in months. They are joined by Caleb Ayto, a journalist, whom Addington is hoping will write a book about his adventures, a revenge-seeking woman, Lucy Stoveall, who wants to head north in order to find the murderers of her sister, Civil War veteran Custis Straw who is following Lucy, his friend, tavern keeping Aloysius Dooley and their guide, half-breed Jerry Potts. This group of misfits are all seeking something different. Along the way they experience unforgettable adventure in a land that has only known the touch of natives, fur trappers and whiskey traders.

The Last Crossing was beautifully imagined and written. The characters are realistically and fully presented as the author delves into each one’s backstory. With such diverse and colorful characters the author paints a vivid historical picture. The book’s scope was expansive and this story of the cultural clash and personal transformation of these travellers was a satisfying and absorbing read. ( )

I read Guy Vanderhaeghe's THE ENGLISHMAN'S BOY several years ago and loved it. THE LAST CROSSING (2002) is the second book in his Canadian West trilogy. A big book at nearly 400 pages, I thought, well, this is gonna take a while. But I finished it in just a few days, it was so good! The Canadian frontier in the late 1800s really comes alive here, and so does England, in a framing story of the wealthy Gaunt family, with its cruel demanding father; an older son, Addington, a British Army veteran of the "troubles" in Ireland, with some cruel, twisted habits of his own; and twins - Charles and Simon, perhaps as unalike as twins could be. The plot revolves around a search expedition for Simon, who has gone missing in wild and wooly western Canada. Some Canadian characters are key too, as the point of view shifts between several voices. Perhaps the most iinteresting of these is Custis Straw, a widowed combat veteran of the U.S. Civil war who, despite his PTSD, has amassed a small fortune as a horse trader with the Indian tribes. He is much taken with Lucy Stoveall, a woman hell bent on finding the killers of her younger sister. And there is Aloysius Dooley, Straw's friend and the saloon keeper, as well as Jerry Potts, a half-breed guide (based on a real, historical person). Compelling, finely wrought and complex characters, crime, sex, violence, cowboys and Indians stuff - they all make for one humdinger of a yarn, and a highly literate one at that. Vanderhaeghe is simply a wonderful writer. I cannot over emphasize that. My very highest recommendation. (And the third book of the trilogy, A GOOD MAN, is already in my teetering to-read pile.)

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER ( )

didn't finish it. found it too slow going ( )

Already forgotten what this book was about.

”I think it’s safe to say that a fondness for all things past is a sure sign of creeping rot.”

In 1870, Charles and Addington Gaunt are charged by their father with the task of leaving England and traveling across the U.S. to find their brother Simon, who has not been heard from in some time. His companion’s body was found by a prospector but there was no sign of Simon. So the hunt is on across the American and Canadian West, through unfriendly Indian country. Along the way the brothers take up with an unlikely cast of characters and it’s the interactions of these people, each with their own thorny reasons for joining the group, combined with the beauty and danger of the far West that make this narrative sing.

No question about it, Vanderhaeghe is a masterful storyteller. His descriptions of the region and people, and the intimate vignettes---the discovery of an Indian village devastated by smallpox, the meeting of a Metis caravan, a sharpshooter’s shocking obliteration of his victim---had me furiously turning pages. The book is worth the read just to sink into the few pages devoted to the bear hunt. Incredible characters, each with their own demons, and each depicted in insightful detail by an author who has the ability to cast a spell like few other authors I’ve encountered. If I was going to compare him to anyone it might be Dickens and the book certainly brought back memories of Lonesome Dove.

Vanderhaeghe is a new author for me and only affirms my belief that the best writers often come from Canada. I’ll be moving on to another of his before too long. ( )