Edwin St. John St. Andrew

Edwin St. John St. Andrew is an 18-year-old Englishman who has been exiled to Canada at the beginning of the novel after making negative comments about the British colonization of India over dinner with his parents and their friends. Edwin's family is descended from William the Conqueror, and his father is set to become an earl when his grandfather dies. Being the youngest son, Edwin will not inherit his family's estate and wealth, and when he arrives in Canada, he feels unmoored at the loss of the life he knew and unsure about his future. He is described as "teetering on the edge of an abyss" (10). Edwin travels through Canada in 1912, staying for a time on the island of Caiette, where he experiences the anomaly in the forest and meets Gaspery-Jacques Roberts, who has disguised himself as a priest in order to interview Edwin...