Angels' Shoes, and Other Stories

In Short

This collection of short stories by Marjorie L. C. Pickthall maps the intersecting lives of frontier workers, lonely prospectors, indigenous legends, and ordinary people caught between profound love and isolation. Spanning remote logging camps, freezing mountain ridges, and tropical riverbanks, the narratives examine sacrifice, endurance, and the quiet moments when human lives brush against the divine or the uncanny. Lasting through the precision of its prose and its deep sympathy for human frailty, the book captures the haunting atmosphere of early twentieth-century Canadian and global frontiers without sentimentality.

The Story

The collection opens on the sluggish, silt-laden waters of the Horado river where the trading vessel Dorotea Dixon waits, introducing a recurring atmosphere of distant, elemental landscapes. From tropical river mouths to the freezing tracks of the Canadian north, the stories trace characters driven by desperate hopes and stark loyalties. Young Launce arrives at a wind-bitten coastal home where his uncle William and the newcomer Lucy face an abrupt tragedy when a fateful journey is swallowed by a sudden storm. Across camps and mining claims, men like Desmond and Garry push themselves to physical breaking points—Desmond facing a blind man's eerie touch in a dark shack, and Garry struggling against snow blindness while guiding his sick companion Kob toward Fort Scarlett. In the high mountains, partners like Charron and Rainger weigh the meagre gold dust of the Nicolum range against the heavy ache of separation from those they love. Cuthbertson rides the desert trails haunted by a fading mirage he calls the Rainmaker, while in northern snows, mythic figures like the Bear, the South-west Wind, and the Old Sky Woman give a spark of living fire to the human girl Mit-kah. Characters return from apparent loss only to find their relationships permanently altered, as Dick Lewis discovers when he quietly visits Guida after an escape. In the final tale, the humble wood-carver Hyacinthe labors in a shed over a sandalwood cabinet, his tired hands shaping little birds and lilies before a mysterious visitor arrives at dawn, leaving his intricate carvings briefly alive in the golden light.

How It Unfolds

• The waiting river — The barquentine Dorotea Dixon pauses at the meeting of jungle river and ocean, setting a tone of suspended anticipation before the arrival of a dugout canoe.
• The coastal home — Young Launce reaches his uncle's wind-swept estate, where Aunt Lucia welcomes him just before a winter storm takes a disastrous path along the beach road.
• The blind touch — Desmond waits in a dark camp shack, amused by an old man's shuffling approach, until a fragile hand brushes his knee and brings a sudden wave of terror.
• The blinding trail — Garry guides his ailing partner through winter snows until the glare strips his sight, leaving him to navigate by memory and sheer will.
• The mountain parting — Charron and Rainger examine their sealskin bag of gold dust on the slopes of Mount Morin, realizing only one can afford the journey out to see the woman he loves.
• The desert mirage — Cuthbertson rides the burning mesas of Lost Mesa, catching repeated glimpses of an Indian figure walking through the sand who watches the eastern road.
• The engine's run — Loch and Hatch fire up a battered, composite locomotive named Number eight, hurtling through forest darkness on a risky midnight rescue mission.
• The dawn carver — Hyacinthe rests among the wood shavings of his workshop as a stranger visits at daybreak, transforming the carved corners of his sandalwood cabinet into living birds and lilies.

The People

• Launce is a sensitive, observant boy who arrives at his relatives' coastal home carrying a mouse-cage and is instantly captivated by the luminous presence of his new aunt, Lucy.
• Uncle William is a bleak, hardened figure living on a wind-bitten shore who faces crushing despair when a perilous journey across the dunes ends in tragedy.
• Desmond is a confident camp worker whose optimism turns to stark terror when he realizes an approaching blind man's touch carries the weight of death.
• Garry is a tireless, strong-shouldered packer who pushes through exhaustion and snow-blindness to honor his promise of guiding his sick companion, Kob, to safety.
• Charron and Jack Rainger are mining partners on the Nicolum range who must decide which of them can afford the journey back down to civilization to see Maisie.
• Cuthbertson is a lonely, desert-worn rider who greets a recurring mirage known as the Rainmaker with quiet respect as he traverses the hot mesas.
• Kolite and Kweetchel are indigenous travelers who navigate treacherous northern seas guided by a compass they mistake for a powerful, directive spirit.
• Hyacinthe is a gentle, pure-hearted wood-carver who labors tirelessly in a humble shed, dreaming of finishing his sandalwood cabinet before a miraculous dawn visit.

In Its Own Voice

Where these two encountered there was war, of meeting and retreating waters; which only ceased when the slow pressure of the turning tide exactly balanced the slow outpouring of the vast stream.

This sentence sets the elemental, atmospheric tone of the opening story as river currents meet the open ocean.

He began to watch for it as for a friend. . . Turning some rock wall or corner of desert, he would find himself riding parallel with an Indian, who walked through the sand about twenty-five feet away as a tired man walks.

This passage describes Cuthbertson's quiet, solitary habit of observing the desert mirage that accompanies his travels.

The sun, not yet risen, sent his first beams upon the delicate mist of frost afloat beneath the trees, and so all the world was aflame with splendid gold.

This description frames the serene, transformative final morning in the wood-carver's remote shed.

What It's Really About

The collection explores the heavy cost of isolation and the fragile bridges humans build across vast distances of wilderness and emotional reserve. It investigates how myths are organically forged from ordinary sacrifices, transforming everyday laborers and lost travelers into legends, symbols, or local gods in the eyes of remote communities. Beneath the rugged plots lies a persistent inquiry into human endurance—how people find strength in memory, love, or simple duty when facing blinding snowstorms, failing health, or the inevitable shifts in relationships over time. Pickthall examines the quiet grace found in unselfish acts, suggesting that moments of profound connection or spiritual awakening often slip quietly into the background of ordinary life.

Why Read It Today

Readers who appreciate atmospheric, lyrical prose and quiet character studies of early Canadian frontiers will find much to admire here. Reading Pickthall feels akin to stepping into a vast, cold forest or sitting beside a glowing camp stove; her language is spare, deliberate, and deeply attuned to the natural world. Modern readers should approach with an awareness of the period's conventions, including early twentieth-century attitudes and occasional regional dialects that reflect the era's writing. Yet, what stays with you long after closing the book is the stark beauty of her imagery—the flash of gold sunlight on snow, the steady rhythm of a shovel or an axe, and the unyielding loyalty ordinary people show one another when the dark closes in.