Hangmans Beach

Hangman’s Beach (1992) by Thomas H. Raddall
Nimbus Publishing
ISBN: 9781551090146
Condition: Good

With a title like Hangman’s Beach, nobody is likely to mistake Thomas H. Raddall’s novel for a cheerful seaside romance involving deckchairs, ice cream and a mildly disappointing donkey ride.

This is Nova Scotia with a rather darker edge.

Thomas H. Raddall was one of Canada’s best-known historical novelists, and Hangman’s Beach brings together many of the things he did particularly well: maritime atmosphere, local history, danger, isolation and the sense that the landscape itself has been quietly remembering unpleasant things for longer than any of the characters.

The coast is not merely scenery here.

It is weather, livelihood, threat and witness.

Raddall writes about communities shaped by the sea, where fortunes can be made and lost on the water, reputations travel quickly, and everybody knows enough about everybody else to make privacy largely theoretical.

Into that setting comes a story coloured by old grievances, violence, suspicion and the sort of local history people prefer not to discuss unless absolutely necessary.

Which, naturally, guarantees that somebody will discuss it.

The title itself carries the weight of execution, punishment and memory, and the novel makes good use of that atmosphere. There is a sense throughout that the past is never entirely past, particularly in small communities where stories survive longer than the people involved.

One generation commits the crime.

The next inherits the rumour.

The third opens a pub and names a cocktail after it.

Raddall’s great strength is his ability to make historical setting feel lived-in rather than displayed behind glass. His Nova Scotia is full of work, weather, hardship and practical people rather than decorative scenery inserted between chapters.

Boats matter.

Storms matter.

Distance matters.

And a badly timed decision can become substantially more serious when there is an Atlantic Ocean involved.

There is also something appealingly old-fashioned about Raddall’s storytelling. He is interested in character, place and consequence, and he allows the drama to grow out of the world rather than trying to manufacture excitement every six pages.

The result is the literary equivalent of hearing a local story told by somebody who begins with, “Well, nobody really knows exactly what happened…”

At which point you should probably sit down.

For readers unfamiliar with Raddall, this is a fine example of the kind of fiction that made him such an important chronicler of Atlantic Canada. His work often sits somewhere between historical novel, regional fiction and adventure, with enough local detail to give the sense that the author knows exactly which road disappears into fog and which inlet you really ought not to enter after dark.

That sense of place gives Hangman’s Beach much of its character.

Nova Scotia is beautiful, but Raddall never lets beauty become softness.

This is a coast shaped by hard weather, hard work and hard memory.

And occasionally by people making extremely poor decisions.

The Nimbus Publishing edition from 1992 also has the satisfying feel of a regional classic kept alive because the stories still matter locally, long after the original publication has passed into history.

For readers interested in Canadian fiction, maritime history, historical novels and atmospheric tales of coastal communities, Hangman’s Beach offers a strong dose of salt air, old secrets and consequences.

It is the kind of book that makes the seaside seem considerably less relaxing than tourist brochures would have you believe.

This copy is in Good condition, which is reassuring given that the beach itself sounds considerably less inviting.

Available from Crappy Old Books, where the coast is safe, the hangman has retired, and the only thing likely to be strung up is the occasional badly designed shelf.

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