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Sudbury author incorporates century-old trauma from his own family into novel

Ric deMeulles releasing his third novel, Quinn, this month

Sudburian Ric deMeulles was in the process of penning his third book, “Quinn,” when he decided to look into some family history that he thought he might be able to plumb for his novel.

“I ended up finding out more than I ever dreamed I'd find out, and it was very disturbing,” he said. “I thought 'Well, why not put it into the book?'”

DeMeulles said he wanted to include the story of a First World War soldier whose experiences still have an impact generations later.

He'd heard “vague stories” about his grandfather, Allan McMaster, serving in the First World War, so started researching his life. What he found out was a big shock.

McMaster, a soldier in the First World War, was involved in a riot by Canadian soldiers in Epsom, England in June 1919, months after the war had ended, and ended up killing a police officer in a fight.

(Read more about the history of the Epsom Riots in this Sudbury.com column by Laurentian University professor emeritus of history Dieter Buse).

The police officer's killing ended up becoming something of a diplomatic incident, and McMaster, who was somehow only ever charged with rioting, was sent home after spending only a short time in jail.

In 1924, McMaster allegedly confessed to police in Winnipeg about what he'd done, but the officers were told by Scotland Yard they considered the matter closed.

The next year, McMaster, who deMeulles suspects had PTSD, gave his two young children away to a neighbour (his wife had earlier died in childbirth), and committed suicide.

DeMeulles said he's seen how these events from a century ago have had intergenerational trauma on his family.

He said he's changed the names, but his grandfather's story made it into his novel, “Quinn,” which he's releasing this month. 

In the novel, it's Quinn's grandfather who kills an English police officer in 1919, which impacts his mother, who gave birth to Quinn at 16, and later Quinn himself, who grew up in an orphanage.

According to the book's description, orphaned Quinn grew up a scrapper and drinker who never accepted any of the breaks life offered him. He messed up his life spectacularly, then blamed the works on Destiny and hightailed it out of town. 

Eleven years later he returned with a promise to make a fresh start but soon found himself at the centre of a monumental muck-up: a bombed war memorial and an abducted autistic girl. 

The cops are out to nail Quinn's arse to the wall, and he figures he's got to go it alone in getting out of hot water. But little does he realize that he's being helped by the least likely candidate imaginable.

“One of the main themes of the book is how things that happen in the past affect the present, and how specifically how war and the violence of war is so disruptive that it affects the person who was in it, but his family, his children and oftentimes the grandchildren,” deMeulles​​​​​​​ said.

But the author said he also tries to make the point that “even though there are these disruptive events in the past, we can deal with it, and we can make our own lives better.”

DeMeulles, who spent most of his adult life working in occupational health and safety, but has been writing fiction since 1980, is also the author of two other novels. 

“Hickey's Dead,” released in 2008, is about a homeless girl who's looking for the truth about her dead mother. This book was published by the now-defunct local publishing company Scrivener Press.

“Ramasseur,” published in 2013, is about a man who finds himself on a train, and doesn't know who he is, but has a hunch that he has killed someone.

DeMeulles published “Ramasseur” as well as “Quinn” through his own small publishing house, Charlie Cormorant Books.

A book release party in honour of “Quinn” takes place Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m. at Little Montreal on Elgin Street. A book signing for “Quinn” also takes place at Chapters Sudbury at noon Oct. 13.

If you're interested in purchasing “Quinn,” it will be available as of Sept. 26 at Chapters Sudbury and online on Amazon.

Learn more about deMeulles on his website, demuelles.ca.


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