Book Review: The Wild Heavens by Sarah Louise Butler

The present tense action of The Wild Heavens takes place over a single day but the broader story of the novel is drawn out over many years. We are first introduced to a young seminary student who, after a shocking discovery in the woods of British Columbia, leaves his pursuit of the priesthood and changes the course of his life. The main character of the novel though is his granddaughter, Sandy. Raised by her grandfather in a remote cabin in the mountains, Sandy grows up to love the land she has grown up on and to share her grandfather’s fascination with and search for the mythical Sasquatch.

I don’t think the term Sasquatch or Bigfoot is ever used on the pages of the book. Sandy and her grandfather refer to the creature as “Charlie”. There are sightings and evidence of both male, female, and a juvenile version of the creature – something like a cross between an ape and a human. A bipedal, elusive animal that may represent a link between animal and human. Throughout the novel, both Sandy and her grandfather eagerly drop everything to follow any trace of Charlie.

Sharing their remote property are Eva and Luke, a young mother and her son – a boy about Sandy’s age – fleeing the Coast and a violent husband. Luke and Sandy grow up together and we learn early in the book that they will end up together, parents of two children. It takes longer to learn why Luke is no longer around in the present setting of the novel.

This is a story with a lot of interesting potential. The setting is fascinating – both familiar and unfamiliar to me. The natural world is a key figure and frequently, beautifully evoked. It’s hard for me to pinpoint quite where the novel fell flat for me. Because while I overall enjoyed my experience while reading The Wild Heavens, I don’t know that this will be a book that sticks with me. I found myself engaged in Sandy and Luke’s friendship turned romance but in general, the characters didn’t feel fully fleshed out to me. The element of Charlie and this family’s hunt for him is a great place to build a story around but by the end of the novel, I felt unsatisfied with how far Butler had taken it.

I don’t know exactly what kind of stories about such creatures might exist where you live though I do think it’s fascinating that so many cultures and countries do have stories about similar creatures. Here on the West Coast of Canada we most commonly refer to such creatures as Sasquatch. The town of Harrison, a couple of hours outside of Vancouver, capitalizes on the legends of the traditional Indigenous people and has statues and pictures of Sasquatch scattered throughout the town. I’ve heard at least one Sasquatch spotting story from a surprisingly credible source. And given the vastness and wildness of the Pacific West Coast, there is a lot of area where it wouldn’t be hard for a creature to hide. I don’t really believe in the existence of mythical creatures like the Ogopogo or mermaids or Sasquatch but I want to believe in the possibility, you know?