The fourth archangel

In the aptly named prairie town of Ordeal, on the eve of the millennium, a powerful struggle is taking place. The farming community is fighting to survive in the turmoil of the years'-long drought and governmental indifference. But as the townspeople rally together when the provincial premier comes to town, other visitations -- both powerful and fantastical -- are unfolding in their midst. Cattle ranchers from a bygone era walk among the living, and freight trains roar on abandoned tracks. "The Fourth Archangel" is a sweeping and magical living history of the land. Through a large and colorful cast of characters, and in writing as spare and beautiful as her subject, Sharon Butala weaves a rich and baroque tapestry of the land and the eternal human struggle to protect it, to tame it, to free ourselves of it, to live with it and love it.