Arthur Slade grew up in rural Saskatchewan and lives and writes in Saskatoon. His novel Dust is one part historical memoir of the Dust Bowl years of the depression and one part fantasy. An albino drives into town and a twelve-year-old's younger brother disappears without a trace on a walk into town with 10¢ in his pocket to buy candy. In short order it's as if the child had never existed as no mention is made of him and the brother is avoided as an uncomfortable reminder. In a household where the Bible and Pilgrims Progress are the only acceptable reading his uncle, his mother's roguish brother slips him Jules Verne Novels and Comic Books hidden under his mattress. No one but his Uncle will listen to a twelve-year-old or give his suspicions of a butterfly raising albino any credence.
The aspects of growing up in the dust bowl years are aptly written, buying the fantasy as a metaphor for sexual abuse is quite another. It does serve to keep the novel "G-rated".
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