Jacob’s Dilemma

The excerpt above does a nice job of catch up for those of us who have not read the earlier book, Jacob's Landing. We now know, though not in detail: that Jacob has come to live with his grandparents following the death of his father; that he has money, serious money, enough to give away a lot to a good cause; and that his grandfather (probably) has some form of dementia which his grandmother finds difficult to cope with (who wouldn't!). Other details, such as the fact that Jacob had only learned about his grandparents' existence fairly recently when his father died in a car crash, and that Jacob's foster mother Maggie is in Ottawa working out the mechanics of both adopting him and working from "home", i.e., from his grandparents' house in Newport Landing, Nova Scotia, get filled in later. Maggie's not being around, however, does mean that Jacob is going to have to start at a new school without having her quasi-parental support.

So this story is that, as a result of the article in the newspaper, Jacob's birth mother, who ran away from the responsibility of wife and motherhood when Jacob was a baby, now seems to want to get in touch. The obvious interpretation is that she, Jade, his mother, wants money, and he apparently has lots, but actually she really does seem to want to see him. Jacob’s father has not said good things about her, and his grandmother, when pushed, is positively vituperative! However, Jacob, not surprisingly, is curious, does some detective work with the help of his best friend and next door neighbour, finds her ... and she's really fun! She takes risks, she's impulsive, and is totally unpredictable, all the things that Jacob and his father are/were not. Jacob isn't really comfortable with things like her pretending to be Maggie and allowing the school to assume she is taking him out for the afternoon for an orthodontist appointment when she actually wants him to play hooky in order to choose and buy a giant pumpkin that they can carve out together and then enter into the annual Thanksgiving pumpkin festival boat race paddling across the harbour. She certainly is different! And kind of exciting. There is also the possibility that just maybe she really has changed. Maybe she no longer "loves alcohol more than them", as his father had once said bitterly.

And herein lies Jacob's dilemma. He doesn't know how to break it to either Maggie or Pearl that he has contacted his mother. Then, after she turns up and it comes out, he doesn't know how to cope with her and her irresponsible ways that nearly result in the death of his best friend's pregnant dog, among other things. But she is his mother. What should he do?

The resolution is fairly predictable, and it all comes out all right in the end, to our relief. I found myself more than a bit impatient in the beginning with Jacob and his vacillations, but happy that he eventually discovers enough inner strength to deal with the situation that he has precipitated. It is a good example of unforeseen consequences of well-intentioned actions that a young reader, or even an older one, could find instructive. Jacob's basic goodness, and his affection for Frank in particular as he goes along with his grandfather's fantasies of still being in command of a ship, his caring relationship with his soon-to-be adoptive mother, all add up to a character we can appreciate and admire, no matter if he has been a bit naïve about his birth mother. She hasn't changed, and we are as relieved as he when she once again vanishes from his life.

But she never did actually ask him for money.