Book review: Accusation

David Worsley
CCE CONTRIBUTOR

Catherine Bush is a novelist who gets deep into your head.

She’s displayed a talent for international setting, portraits of shifting morality and complex characterization, all while putting together propulsive plots.

After three novels, her breakout book comes in the form of Accusation, a story of the power and speed of rumour as it relates to a Canadian journalist who meets and becomes friends with Raymond, a fellow who has put together a sort of Cirque du Soleil-like children’s circus performing throughout Europe and Africa.

When allegations of abuse from within the circus are levelled at Raymond, personal and professional allegiances and ethics are tested, and Bush adroitly examines the power of accusation and the whole idea of truth in a sped up and hyper connected world.

Good novels ask questions, and Accusation wrestles with questions of professional courtesy, the nature and elasticity of justice, truth and morality and the increasingly destructive power of accusation.

Through her novels Minus Time, Rules of Engagement and her last book Claire’s Head, Bush has acquired a reputation as a writer’s writer. With her new novel Accusation, one hopes she’ll get the acclaim she deserves.

David Worsley is the co-owner of Words Worth Books(96 King St S Waterloo, wordsworthbooks.com). He’s happiest with a drink in one hand and a book in the other. Accusation is available at Words Worth Books now.