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Mikaela MacKenzie \/ Free Press files<\/p>\n
In an act of literary alchemy, Margaret Sweatman\u2019s lyrical, whimsical prose transforms what could have been a hard-boiled thriller into a meditation on greed.<\/p>\n
Sweatman takes on similar themes in Night Birds, sharply criticizing wealth inequality, global capitalism and environmental exploitation, contrasted with the importance of art and human connection.<\/p>\n
Sweatman opens \u201cin the near future\u201d in a remote region of Transylvania at a shady mining operation owned by gangster Peter Zugravi.<\/p>\n
Over lunch, a catastrophe occurs, spewing poisoned water and sludge into the waterways, destroying the countryside and killing hundreds.<\/p>\n
The devastation isn\u2019t contained to Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n
Just outside Winnipeg lives the mine\u2019s chief investor Farrar, a factory owner currently annoyed at wildfire smoke blowing in from Northern Canada.<\/p>\n
When Farrar hears from his business advisor, a cool cynic named Mark, he realizes his business interests are tied to worse enterprises than he\u2019d allowed himself to acknowledge \u2014 and that he is deeply in trouble. \u201cMark said that Peter Zugravi was being \u2018irrational,\u2019 that Farrar would be wise to get his family out of the way till Peter \u2018calmed down,\u2019\u201d Sweatman writes.<\/p>\n
Farrar attempts to convince himself that he acted in good faith all along, even as he sends his wife and daughter to hide on Mark\u2019s private island, defuse Zugravi\u2019s anger and protect his own business interests.<\/p>\n
In an act of literary alchemy, Sweatman\u2019s lyrical, whimsical prose transforms what could have been a hard-boiled thriller into a meditation on greed and responsibility.<\/p>\n
Businessman Farrar is contrasted with the artistic interests of his father, neighbour and wife, who shape their lives around a desire to create things for joy instead of exploiting others for money.<\/p>\n
As Farrar\u2019s neighbour lectures him, \u201cOur economy has been devoured by kleptocrats who\u2019ve stolen most of the world\u2019s money. Just like dragons, devouring the flesh and draining the blood of helpless folk.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like the wildfire smoke that drifts in at the start of the novel, environmental warnings overshadow the plot: violent storms destroy homes, unseasonal heat scorches the countryside and drought threatens ahead.<\/p>\n