Irma Voth

Irma Voth, the most recent novel by acclaimed Canadian author Miriam Towes is a tale of subtleties and secrets, where the dramatic becomes the understated, and the mere media of story reveals the interwoven complexities of a culture out of time.

Irma is young woman in her early twenties dealing with the loss of family, within the context of extreme proximity. After eloping with her then boyfriend Jorge, a mexican local, Irma - a canadian-born mennonite - is shunned from her family home. Though she works and lives just the other side of the Voth's farm, and can literally see her parent's house from her bedroom window, Irma is secluded and cut off from their lives except for the brief (forbidden) interactions with her rebellious younger sister Aggie. When a film crew move in the the only other house on the adjacent property to commence filming a story which will encompass the spirit of Mennonite life, Irma is immediately pulled into a whole new world of experiences and understandings as she is recruited as the crew's translator. Meanwhile, traditional and closed minded Mr. Voth sides with the majority of the Mennonite's views in their attempt to evict the film crew from their land and continue their lives in piece.

This story delves deep into the concepts of family, tradition and obedience within the context of broken and upturned homes. Small rebellions and unspoken words weave their way throughout the story to reveal a life style that is both sepearte from and inherantly connected to the context in which it thrives. While Irma and her sister Aggie try to find an identity of their own under the shadow of their father's dissapproval, they quickly learn that there is a fine line between necessary freedoms and ill planned rebellion.

Fraught with themes of freedom, supression, identity and expression, Irma Voth is a wonderful tale of a simple life style, complete with all it's over complicated relations.