Heartland actor Michelle Morgan is not horsing around on Canada Reads 2025
Canada Reads will air March 17-20 on CBC TV, CBC Radio and CBC Books
Heartland actor Michelle Morgan is championing the novel Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper on Canada Reads 2025!
Morgan is an actor and filmmaker of Chilean descent, best known for playing Lou in CBC's Heartland.
The great Canadian book debate will take place on March 17-20. This year, we are looking for one book to change the narrative.
The debates will be hosted by Ali Hassan and will be broadcast on CBC Radio One, CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Listen, YouTube and CBC Books. Canada Reads airs at 10 a.m. ET (11 a.m. AT, 1:30 p.m. NT) on CBC Radio One and 1 p.m. ET (2 p.m. AT, 2:30 p.m. NT) on CBC TV. You can tune in live or catch a replay on the platform of your choice.
A passion for storytelling
In addition to playing Lou in Heartland, Morgan has directed multiple episodes. Currently in its 18th season, Heartland is the longest-running one-hour drama in Canadian television history.
Morgan's other acting credits include Virgin River, Batwoman and The Good Doctor. She has also directed the award-winning short films Mi Madre-My Father and Save Yourself and the CBC digital series Hudson.
Morgan is an advocate for women's rights and has partnered with women's shelters across Canada, including The Brenda Strafford Women's Shelter and Homefront Calgary, and teaches workshops for survivors of domestic violence.
One woman's journey
Morgan's love for literature spawned from her studies in theatre, but now she enjoys any book that bring engaging characters to life with excellent writing and world-building.
That's why she picked Etta and Otto and Russell and James, a heartwarming and original literary novel about love, joy, memory and a journey that weaves past and present.
"I feel like when you're reading a good book and when you're really enjoying a story and and maybe a particular character, it's just like when you're watching a good movie or you're watching a good performance where you forget about the artifice and you're not thinking about the fancy trick the director is doing or how hard the actor is working," she told CBC Books in an interview.
You're just really drawn in and you even have space to reflect on on your own feelings.- Michelle Morgan
"You're just really drawn in and you even have space to reflect on on your own feelings. That's what I really like about about this novel."
In Etta and Otto and Russell and James, 82-year-old Etta decides to walk 3,232 kilometres to Halifax from her farm in Saskatchewan to fullfil her dream of seeing the ocean. With little more than a rusty rifle and a talking coyote named James for company, she begins her adventure, and in the process, her early life with her husband Otto and their friend Russell is revealed in flashbacks.
While Russell wants to bring her home safe, she's committed to making her way to the sea and before returning to her husband who will always wait patiently for her to come back.
Transportative farm writing
Morgan was first captivated by the novel because of its vivid descriptions of Otto's early life in Saskatchewan, growing up on a farm with many siblings.
"Hooper's writing is so poignant and it captures the wonder and the hardships of Depression-era Saskatchewan," said Morgan in her 30-second pitch on CBC Radio's Commotion. "And her writing is sparing, and it's bare-boned and it leaves readers the space to fill in the gaps with our own experiences of love and loss and remembering and forgetting."
While she hadn't researched author Emma Hooper before she started to read, she could just tell that Hooper had spent time on a farm in Saskatchewan (which she did) by how transportative her writing was.
"You can feel and taste the dirt. But you can also feel how free they are," she said. "Even though they're so bogged down with chores, there's so much beautiful freedom to their to their life."
In fact, Hooper based Etta and Otto and Russell and James on the story of her maternal grandparents, who were from Saskatchewan.
"My grandmother, my mom's mom, was a teacher in a one-room school house and my grandfather, like Otto, was from a farm family with 15 kids. And he, like Otto, also had his hair go white on the way over to the war," said Hooper in an interview on The Next Chapter.
From there, the characters obviously evolved completely into their own people.- Emma Hooper
"There's sort of a starting point there. Then from there, the characters obviously evolved completely into their own people."
Hooper's other novels include Our Homesick Songs, which was on the longlist for the 2018 Scotiabank Giller Prize, and We Should Not Be Afraid of the Sky. She also holds a PhD in music-literary studies and has published her research on many related topics. Raised in Alberta, she currently lives in England.
The challenge of remembering
In Etta and Otto and Russell and James, Etta's grapples with dementia, and finds herself forgetting parts of herself throughout her journey. Yet, she soldiers on, with a piece of paper in her pocket with the important facts she must remember.
Morgan, whose mother has dementia, was moved by Hooper's portrayal of Etta and her dementia in the novel.
"Anyone who has been touched by dementia, whether it's in your family or or a friend, will resonate with Etta, but in a really empowering way because she is so strong and is not someone to be pitied," Morgan told CBC Books.
"Etta gets up and goes on a journey despite her dementia and despite the fact that her identity is slipping away, she's still a powerful character."
