Burden of Desire

Author(s): Robert MacNeil

Location(s): Nova Scotia

Genre(s): Fiction, Historical

Era(s): World War I

Set against a vivid backdrop of a world at war, “Burden of Desire” opens with a cataclysmic explosion that provides the novel’s extraordinary central metaphor. The blast and its aftermath, which devastates Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917, rocks the lives of the three major characters, and ensures that the world as they know it will never be the same again.

“Burden of Desire” centres on the love triangle between bohemian Halifax south-end belle Julia Robertson, Dalhousie professor Stewart MacPherson, and young Anglican minister Peter Wentworth.

Julia keeps a diary detailing her sexual fantasies, which she has with her at the moment of the blast. She hides her diary in her coat, which is subsequently donated to a clothing drive for the individuals from the north end of the city who’ve list everything in the explosion. Peter discovers the diary and becomes fixated on its author, enlisting the help of his friend Stewart to find her.

“Burden of Desire” explores the repression and expression of sexual desire at the time of the First World War. It also offers a compelling fictional account of the impact on Halifax society of the Halifax Explosion.

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