The Cure for Death by Lightning
Gail Anderson-Dargatz 
Knopf Canada
When fifteen-year-old Beth Week’s family is attacked by a grizzly, her 
father becomes  increasingly violent, making him a danger to his 
neighbors, his family, and especially Beth. Meanwhile, several young 
children from the nearby Indian reservation have gone missing, and Beth 
fears that something is pursuing her in the bush. But friendship with an
 Indian girl connects her to a mythology that enriches her landscape; 
and an unexpected protector shores up her world. <br>Set on an isolated Canadian farm in the midst of World War II, <b>The Cure for Death by Lightning</b>
 evokes a life at once harshly demanding and rich in sensory pleasures: 
 the deafening chatter of starlings, the sight of thousands of painted 
turtles crossing a road, the smell of baking that fills the Weeks’s 
kitchen.  The novel is sprinkled throughout with recipes and remedies 
from the scrapbook Beth’s mother keeps, a boon to Beth as she learns to 
face down her demons--and one of many elements that give <b>The Cure for Death by Lightning</b> its enchanting vitality.<p></p>