Out of the Dark

*trigger warning: domestic violence

Jane Mooney and her six siblings don’t have an easy life: money was tight, and tempers were short. Pa ‘bulldog’ Mooney drinks too much, has a short, unpredictable temper and takes his frustrations out on the nearest family member when he’s not working at the docks or out drinking with friends. With a violent home, it’s no surprise the Mooney children, including Jane, are known throughout the neighbourhood as bullies and always ready for a fight or that the eldest child, Connor, would jump at the opportunity to leave home and join the army and serve his country during World War I. When Connor’s first letter from overseas arrives, it sets Pa off: he vows to destroy anything sent by Connor and forbids saying Connor’s name. Jane writes back to Connor, unsure whether he’ll receive the letter, asking him not to write anymore because it will be easier on the family.

Jane is left wondering whether Connor is alive when tragedy strikes closer to home: on December 6th, 1917, two munitions ships, the SS Mont-Blanc and SS Imo, collide in the harbour causing an explosion causing extensive damage to the city. Jane’s North End neighbourhood is flattened, and thousands of lives are lost, including Jane’s brothers Marty, Alan, and Alex, as well as Pa who was working at the docks. Half of the Mooney family, including the breadwinner, are gone. Fortunately, the Mooneys are able to stay with a distant relative until their new apartment is ready for them. With the South End of Halifax mostly untouched by the explosion, Jane is able to attend a nicer school than the one she had in the North End. It’s a rough start at school until her manners and temperament are reigned in and she begins making friends with people she would have thought were too snooty just months ago.

Not everything is going smoothly though: Ma received a bad concussion in the explosion, and she struggles to remember things, including that Pa is no longer with them, and she is prone to wondering off for long periods of time. Jane does her best to keep the household running when another tragedy grips Halifax: Spanish Influenza has arrived, and additional health precautions need to be taken to prevent spreading, a feat complicated by the fact many people are still homeless and living quarters are often overcrowded. Jane volunteers to help make masks, a new requirement with the influenza pandemic at its height. She works with other volunteers and finds herself becoming friends with people she would never have spoken to otherwise. Compounded tragedies have broken down barriers and, for the time, put citizens of differing social statuses on a more equal level and opened the door to new friends. Jane wonders whether this new comradery across social classes will continue once lives get back to the way they were.

On top of everything else, Jane discovers her mother has been fired from her job and has been spending her time with, and their remaining money on, a clairvoyant Madam Zaranda. Jane wishes her brother Connor were there to help her cope, and she hopes he will send a letter even though she had told him to not write. When the journal Connor kept while on the battlefield arrives in the mail, Jane is excited to have a connection to Connor in her possession, but she wonders what its arrival means and if Connor is alright. When a military ship arrives, Jane’s question is answered, and the reason behind Pa’s animosity toward Connor is revealed.

Touching on topic still relevant today, including domestic violence, poverty, global pandemics, social exclusion, and the global impact of war,Out of the Dark gives readers a sense of what it’s like when these social issues intersect. Through the eyes of Jane, a young girl living in one of the more impoverished parts of North End Halifax, readers will empathize with Jane and the difficult decision she has to make in order to survive and to take care of her traumatized siblings and mother while dealing with her own problems.

There are numerous books about the Halifax Explosion, and Out of the Dark, a follow-up novel to Lawson’s A Blinding Light, brings a new perspective to one of the most memorable and commemorated events in Halifax’s history. With much of the book dealing with difficult situations and events, there are moments of hope and light, including when Ma, who never had the opportunity to learn to read as write, is frustrated and saddened because she can’t read Connor’s journal herself, Jane and her siblings decide they will teach her. The joy each of them expresses as they take on this challenge, something they never could have done if Pa hadn’t been killed in the explosion and the family being freed from his violence, are moments of light. When Connor returns and the last of the family secrets are out in the open, the Mooneys create their own happy ending after surviving an avalanche of traumatic events that occurred in quick succession. Jane’s innocence, struggle, and persistence, along with her dramatic flair, make Out of the Dark a page-turner that will keep readers on the edge of their seats.

*trigger warning: domestic violence