THE LUCKY ONES. Purcell, Donald. Ottawa, Oberon Press, c1985. 134pp, paper, ISBN 0-88750-611-9 (cloth) $23.95, 0-88750-612-7 (paper) $12.55. Adult Reviewed by Nadiya Blaine Volume 14 Number 4 1986 July The Lucky Ones is a story set in rural Quebec in the early 1930s. It is divided into two parts. Part one describes the life of fifty-year-old Paul Dandurand, a widower with two sons and two daughters. They live on a farm in St. Bede, where life has not changed basically for the last hundred years. Life is slow paced, and farming is still done the old fashioned way, without the use of too many modern machines. Paul finds that he needs a wife to run his house when his daughter marries and part two of the book has Lucille Magnan (his new wife) as the main character. Lucille was a domestic in an English household in Montreal, and has to learn to adapt to farm life. Not too much is written about this, however. The whole book deals basically with Paul's decision to marry, his courtship, and his life on the farm. The author has captured the slow pace of life on a farm, the character's preoccupation with money and with the church. Not only is Paul very dependent on the church, but most of the characters seem unable to make any major decisions without first consulting the local priest. I found this book very slow, and at $12.95 for the paperback, I would not buy it. But I am sure some readers will find charm in this story. Nadiya Blaine, Bertie E.S., Ridgeway, Ont.