A Killer in King’s Cove is part of a series of books by Iona Whishaw called, A Lane Winslow Mystery. The story takes place just outside Nelson, BC which is where the author is from. It is set in 1946 in a very small community of about 20 people who have come to settle here for peace and escape the effects of the war they have just come through. The protagonist of this story – Lane Winslow – has just emigrated to Canada in search of a simple and quiet life away from her job as a spy in Britain during World War II. She enjoys writing and I came across this quotation which comes in form of a poem from the first piece of writing she did once she arrived in King’s Cove.
I can stretch my hand across the fields of time
to pull a child from where she grew alone
and with a breath that might be mine
exhale a garden of her very own. (p. 39)
This quotation is meaningful for the beginning of the story because it gives the readers the knowledge that she found a place where she can finally relax…for now. It also tells us that she grew up alone. Which is true. Lane had always felt alone growing up even if there were people around her. When she was a child, her mother was dying her father was forbidding. Since she enjoys writing, I thought it would be a good quotation to include as it is also her first piece of writing since moving to Canada.