Astray- Emma Donoghue

I just finished Emma Donoghue's collection of mostly previously published short stories, Astray.  You may remember Donoghue from her enormously popular 2010 title, Room, which gave many readers, including me, the creeps.  That story, which I definitely recommend, was told from the point-of-view of Jack, a five year old boy.  His life was the simple one room he shared with his mother because they were being held captive by a man who had kidnapped her years before.  It was up for numerous awards and received well by critics.

This is not Room, Part 2.  Not even close.  Donoghue was known more for writing short stories well before Room hit the scene.  Astray is a collection of short stories published in literary magazines from 1998 to the present.

The common theme throughout Astray is emigration and how it can lead people into doing things they normally would not do.  We have a mother going to Canada with her daughter and having a quick affair she would never have considered before.  A Hessian soldier finds himself fighting in the American Revolution and forced to do something that goes against his nature.  A Pilgrim finds the same sins in America that he wished to escape from in England and is forced to speak out against his brethren. 

Perhaps the most interesting thing about this book is how it is partly historical fiction.  The stories come from old newspaper articles Donoghue found and which spoke to her in some way.  Many of them did not go into much detail, so the author decided to tell the tales in her own way.  The one I found intriguing is "Onward" which tells of Charles Dickens helping out a brother and his sister (who was trying to take care of her daughter in a less than savory way) by paying their way to Canada.