The Saltbox Olive by Angela Antle

Reviewed by Robin McGrath

When most readers think about Newfoundland at war, Beaumont Hamel and Gallipoli come to mind, but the famous 166th Newfoundland Regiment spent a considerable time in Italy, positioned between Florence and Bologna during the Second World War. Angela Antle's remarkable novel, The Saltbox Olive, covers that period through the lives of several generations of a family: Min Fisher, a brutally abused woman, her two sons who both serve in the war, and a great-granddaughter, Caroline, who sets out to discover the history of their service. The olive tree of the title begins and ends the narrative, linking the generations across the years.

The central action in the novel focuses on the two sons, who serve in a gunner's unit--Garland, a selfish womanizer who can make himself dangerously pleasant when it suits him. Arch, his younger brother, is a spoiled priest who stutters when stressed. Their companions in the unit are Slade, a reckless, dishonest, but funny character who nobody trusts, but everybody likes, and Tombstone, an honest, brave, and loyal giant of a man.

An unrelated female photojournalist, Barbara, appears at intervals, laying the ground for Caroline to find clues to the hidden history of the brothers. Clearly based upon Margaret Bourke White, the first woman to document war, Barbara helps a reader stand back and observe the larger picture, while still showing how the main characters were impacted by the fighting.

The fictional lives of the men and women in The Saltbox Olive is always balanced by a convincing and apparently accurate description of the daily lives of the Newfoundland soldiers who were deployed in the war. Accounts of the actual battles, by men who took part in them, confirms that Antle vividly captured the combination of terror, boredom, discomfort, and tedium of the long-term standoff between the Allies and the Germans in northern Italy.

Antle has not been handcuffed by history, but uses it with dexterity. According to G. W. Nicholson, one of Antle's many sources of information, in real life, Gunner Joe “Tombstone” Murphy had been employed at a marble works and was an orphan who had “no dependents to worry about him.” Antle endowed her fictional stone carver, Gunner Tom “Tombstone” Walsh, with no fewer than nine children, but this larger-than-life character makes a fine foil for the Fisher brothers, while the light-fingered Slade provides comic relief,

Maintaining a suspension of disbelief is important in a novel based upon historic events, and while a military historian might find fault with elements of her depiction of the 166th during that time, the narrative rarely falters. The events set in Newfoundland are equally convincing, except for several errors related to religious practice.

St. Bonaventure's College in St. John's was never a seminary--it was a school for boys and a monastery. Newfoundland seminarians generally studied at the Diocesan Seminary in Ottawa or at All Hallows in Ireland, as there has never been a seminary on the island. The sexual abuse of a student by a priest in Newfoundland should come as no surprise to readers, but even a sexual predator wouldn't “share” a confessional with his victim, or let him listen in on confessions. There are plenty of other opportunities for priestly misbehaviour without locating it in a cupboard the size of a telephone booth. Antle might have deliberately chosen to ignore the facts in order to serve the needs of plot advancement, but surely there is a more plausible way to deal with the sexual abuse.

While the hidden history of the Fisher family carries the book forward, it is the daily life of the soldiers in their mountain caves that keeps the reader engaged. They snare rabbits, dodge snipers, encounter refugees and partisans, and struggle to understand Italians and their language. They are alternately frightened, bored, flea-infested, too hot or too cold, and always frustrated by their orders not to advance against the Germans. Like real families, the members of the Regiment are often at odds with one another, but still bonded by their shared situation.

Antle's depiction of daily life in wartime is her triumph. The soldiers are always identifiably Newfoundlanders, carrying their culture, their gifts, and their failings, into a strange and unfamiliar context. Her abilities as an award-winning documentarian and journalist are wonderfully employed as she transforms herself into a competent and compelling novelist.

In recent decades, Newfoundland culture has made its mark on comedy with writers such as Greg Malone, Mary Walsh, and Andy Jones, and on the popular music scene with talents such as Allan Doyle and Tim Baker. Newfoundland novelists Michael Crummy, Lisa Moore, Patrick Kavanagh and Wayne Johnston have more recently found a place in the hearts of readers across the country. Angela Antle can easily claim membership in that small but distinguished company.

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About the Author

Angela Antle is a writer, artist, and documentary maker based in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Antle’s writing has appeared in Riddle Fence, Newfoundland Quarterly, and CBC.ca.

About the Reviewer

Robin McGrath was born in Newfoundland. She earned a doctorate from the University of Western Ontario, taught at the University of Alberta, and for 25 years did research in the Canadian Arctic on Inuit Literature and culture before returning home to Newfoundland and Labrador. She now lives in Harbour Main and is a full-time writer. Robin has published 26 books and over 700 articles, reviews, introductions, prefaces, teaching aids, essays, conference proceedings and chapbooks. Her most recent book is Labrador, A Reader's Guide. (2023). She is a columnist for the Northeast Avalon Times and does freelance editing.

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Breakwater Books

• Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 10 2025

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Print length ‏ : ‎ 264 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1778530516

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1778530517