Birch and Jay
Allister Thompson’s contemporary climate fiction, “Birch and Jay,” drops the reader into a dystopian future set in Ontario during the 2100s. The world has become decimated as the climate spiralled out of control, human life forever altered. Canada is a war-torn landscape with violence between climate refugees who fled north from a collapsed United States and flooded the border. Armed conflict has resulted in severely depleted populations and stragglers remain, hunting and fighting to survive.
Political, social and financial institutions have been wiped out and what persists are pockets of humans hoping to continue on. We meet Birch and Jay, they belong to an isolated and idealistic community called Norbay. Community members seek out and preserve knowledge of the past human civilization. Jay, a Knowledge Seeker, sets out on his first ‘seeking’ mission. These missions include Jay exploring abandoned domestic spaces and the residue of material culture that once was. Birch, a young woman from the community, who loves Jay, follows him. Both characters must navigate an unforgiving and violent world beyond the confines of their desolate community. Along the way, they meet unforgettable personalities and are forced to contemplate the projection of the state of the world and what will become of it.
Allister Thompson is a professional book editor based in North Bay. Thompson is also a musician and he has released music in the genres of psychedelic rock, progressive rock, folk and ambient. Thompson has edited novels in all genres in his 20 plus years in the publishing industry.
Latitude 46 Publishing is an independent Canadian literary press based in Sudbury, Ontario, named for the 46th parallel that runs through Northern Ontario. Founded in 2015, the press is dedicated to publishing fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by writers who live in, or are connected to Northern Ontario and its landscapes, histories, and communities. Latitude 46 is committed to regional storytelling which helps correct the long-standing Toronto-centric imbalance in Canadian publishing by creating space for northern voices, rural and resource-based narratives, and culturally specific perspectives that might otherwise struggle to find national platforms. By championing both emerging and established writers from the North and situating place as a central literary force, Latitude 46 strengthens Canada’s literary diversity and ensures that Northern Ontario is recognized not as a margin, but as a vital centre of Canadian literary production.
I have read and reviewed several works by Latitude 46. “The Donoghue Girl,” by Kim Fahner, “Joe Pete,” by Ian McCulloch, “The Stones of Burren Bay,” by Emily de Angelis, and “A Thousand Tiny Awakenings,” an anthology edited by Connor Lafortune & Lindsay Mayhew. Lastly, “The Art of Floating,” by Melanie Marttila. “Birch and Jay” joins these texts in the unique storytelling and larger questions that the nature of these publications propel readers to face.
For YA, some elements of the plot were shocking, despite being authentic to the nature of the world beyond the isolated community. Further, the plot was dialogue driven with a crafting of multiple timelines and character point-of-views challenging the reader to face the world that could become if climate issues are left unchecked. A heavy hand of carrying the story forward was an adult Jay, now an instructor for the next generation of Knowledge Seekers, speaking from 2173 relaying the story of his first mission half a century ago. Other reviewers have noted that this future timeline reduces the sense of drama and suspense with the plot as we know Birch and Jay will make it out alive. I wonder, as this is the first book of a trilogy series, if this dual-timeline will fit in with the two future books and is functioning to build deeper suspense and mystery later?
Toronto was a benchmark landscape point that culled my intrigue of this post-apocalyptic and dystopian scenario. Toronto is overrun with a group called, “The Six,” violent warlords ravaging the ruins of lost domestic spaces and enslaving anyone in their path. Birch and Jay encounter Toronto, the almost myth of a once great metropolis, Toronto has more than their desolate Norbay community. Toronto seems clean, at first, the population thriving within its fortress walls, children are even playing out in the open. There are electric streetlights and vehicles. There is also medical care. But, beyond these luxuries of life, there are the warlords. And they force our protagonists to question their upbringing, above all else, they exist to force the protagonists to choose between a life they’ve always known, and the potential of a future, a violent future.
It was not fully apparent to me if Thompson played on the title of the text with dialogue or characterization, but the combination of the symbolism of ‘birch’ and ‘jay’ adds a depth and richness to the novel. On their own, ‘birch’ and ‘jay,’ are powerful symbols, but combined, meaning deepens.
The birch tree holds memory, a pioneer species, it is often the first tree to grow after fire or clearing. Birch stands for starting again, especially after loss. As thresholds and liminality, the birch’s pale bark and early leafing renders the tree as one in between, between season, winter and spring, and between grief, to healing, silence and then speech. In many traditions, Celtic, Nordic and Indigenous, the birch is linked to purification, shelter and a gentler strength, not dominance. Lastly, birch bark has historically been used for canoes, containers and writing. Birch, a recording, carrying and preserving of story. Birch is quiet resilience, life that returns without spectacle.
The Blue Jay can exist in contrast to birch. The piercing cry, impossible to ignore. The Blue Jay speaks up, especially when danger or injustice is present. Jays will imitate other birds and their sounds, linking them to language and storytelling, deception and revelation. Jays, the guardians of the forest, call out the boundaries. Jay has been known to break silence so something can change.
Together, birch and jay symbolize a land that heals and the voice that warns. They are combined gentle renewal and sharp speech. In places of recovery, there is witness and testimony of what will not be forgotten. Together, they are a living landscape that both remembers and speaks.
Thompson presents a cli-fi novel for a young adult readership of hope. There is potential for a better future. The intended audience is given a space to contemplate and dream of something better, that they can go out into the world and explore solutions, rather than caving under the weight of climate anxiety. “Birch and Jay” would be a beneficial text for conversation in a mature classroom.
Thank you to Allister Thompson, Latitude 46and River Street Writing for a complimentary copy in request for an honest review.
