Family’s plight plotted on solid foundation

Each day we make choices — from minor ones that could be forgotten within minutes to life-changing ones that can affect generations.

In Naomi’s Houses: A Memoir, Rosalie I. Tennison shows the positive and negative effects choices can have on the future of an entire family, as seen through the Manitoba houses where the family members lived.

Tennison is an award-winning agricultural journalist who has written for rural weekly newspapers and agricultural trade magazines, as well as working with a small-town radio station. She lives in Winnipeg.

Naomi’s Houses begins with a prologue explaining the situation in which Tennison’s parents found themselves — constantly on the edge of dire poverty, juggling their family’s needs with what they could afford. Her father, Tennison explains, often had to choose between two bad options, looking for the least harmful one. The houses where the family lived became symbols of these choices.

The family farmhouse was the first place Tennison lived, together with her parents and two siblings. With no money to hire farm help, the family worked hard but also found shelter in their home and in each other, at least until the unexpected death of Tennison’s father. Meanwhile, her grandparents’ home, called Wildwood, was a place where the family could go for relief from the struggles of daily life, although life at this house also had its challenges.

The loss of her father meant a diminished income for Tennison’s family, forcing them to move to a house that the author calls The Hovel. Life in the new surroundings was hard, but Tennison’s mother did what she could to make the house a home and to get the family onto a better financial footing. When the author and her two siblings were able to start earning some money through babysitting and other jobs, the family’s financial situation eased somewhat.

Further change came when Tennison’s mother remarried and moved to a house the author calls The Haunted Acres. The marriage was not successful despite the second husband’s wealth, and Tennison was relieved when the relationship ended so that she and her mother could get away.

The book’s final chapter includes reflections on the role of Wildwood in the author’s life, as well as an epilogue describing the author’s own search for housing that could help to bring out the best in her.

Naomi’s Houses is a gripping story with many elements readers will recognize and understand, even if they’ve not had the same experiences. Although some may not identify with the author’s use of houses as the anchor for the memoir, the technique helps move the story along in a structured way.

One potentially confusing aspect of this literary device is that it can be difficult to reconcile Tennison’s changing perspectives on the homes as she grows into adulthood. In general, however, it works quite well.

Naomi’s Houses is a thought-provoking story about the struggles and triumphs of a Manitoba family.

Susan Huebert is a Winnipeg writer and pet sitter.