Rabbit Foot Bill is another great novel from my favourite Canadian writer, Helen Humphreys. This is based on the true story of a young boy on the prairies, and his friendship with an outsider which lasts into adulthood, when the boy becomes a doctor at a Saskatchewan Institution, and the older men, a patient.
In 1947, when Leonard was 12, he would escape his strict household (and schoolhouse bullies) and visit Bill, a vagrant who lived in the burrow of a hill with his wild dogs. The two form a friendship as Leonard helps him snare rabbits. One day as Bill does odd jobs in town, he unexpectedly kills a boy, and is sent to prison. Leonard witnessed it all.
Now an adult, Leonard is a newly hired psychiatrist at the sprawling Weyburn Mental Institute, tasked with helping men upon release. Now out of prison, Bill is a patient working the stables, living apart from the other men. The bond between them renewed, Leonard begins spending time with Bill, compulsive to fill the blank space which Bill seems to have towards a past that meant so much. He also spends time with the available and eager wife of his boss, and between the two, completely neglects his work.
At Weyburn, the treatment of patients involves the newest measures, including LSD which both the doctors and patients experiment with. Leonard cannot stop another tragedy, leaving Bill accused and Leonard fired.
As the novel moves through time to 1970, Leonard returns to his prairie home and discovers some answers to the repressed memories of his childhood, and the life of Rabbit Foot Bill.
No matter what the subject, each of Humphreys novels has an emotional core that draws you in. Exceptional writing and construction, but also the unquantifiable that ties the reader to the story. It's the sensitivity to the characters; the patients, the doctors, and even the abusive father, driven into a rage by his experiences in the war. Some men returned and tried to maintain family life, some men must live apart from the world.
This is a layered novel, based on the life of Hugh Lafave, who as a boy knew the murderer when that trial took place, and in the 1950's became the superintendent of the Weyburn Mental Hospital where the LSD drug trials took place.
All Humphreys novels I highly recommend for great writing and a satisfying read.
My other reviews for Helen Humphreys:
2020 / Hardcover / 231 pages
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