Heartland's Michelle Morgan and Canada Reads author Emma Hooper bond over caring for people with dementia
Michelle Morgan will champion Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
When Canadian writer Emma Hooper went into a meeting with her publisher, the last thing she expected was to be told that the debut novel she wrote ten years ago was going to be on Canada Reads.
Now that it's been awhile since the initial response to Etta and Otto and Russell and James, the book's champion, Heartland star Michelle Morgan, felt that the story would resonate even more so with the country today.
Hooper is a Canadian musician and writer. Her other novels include Our Homesick Songs 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.
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 fulfil 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.
When asked to be on Canada Reads 2025, Morgan read many books to narrow her search, and surprised herself by the emotions that Etta and Otto and Russell and James would stir in her.
Morgan is a Canadian actor and filmmaker of Chilean descent, best known for playing Lou in CBC's Heartland and directing multiple episodes. Currently in its 18th season, Heartland is the longest-running one-hour drama in Canadian television history.
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.
Prior to the Canada Reads debates Hooper and Morgan were joined by the host, Ali Hassan, on The Next Chapter. Together they spoke about why Etta and Otto and Russell and James was such a unique and personally significant novel to them.
AH: You start the novel with Etta's heartfelt letter to her husband Otto and it sets such an intimate tone. What inspired you to open the story in that way and how does that set the stage for Etta's journey and the story that follows?
EH: Well, writing the opening of a novel is terrifying. I mean, starting anything big is terrifying, isn't it? Whether it's, I don't know, Michelle, if you're starting a new pilot or the opening scene, deciding what that's gonna be, you feel like it's like that's your make or break and it's very scary.
This is what people are gonna read and then keep going [with] and put it down or watch and then switch it off. So I think I started with the letter because it seemed easiest for me to start right in the character because it's in Etta's voice.
Michelle Morgan: I feel like that's one of the reasons I love this book is that you do that often. Rather than describing or trying to tell the reader what we're seeing or what we should feel, we're just sort of in it. A lot of this book is letters written by Etta and Otto to each other and notes and things like that, a lot of it is their own writing.
So we get to read what they're writing and it's one of the reasons I really, I really love this book.
AH: Michelle, this is a book that puts octogenarians front and centre in a book. This portrayal is very different from many other books. I can't think of other books that have a representation like this, I don't know if you can?
MM: One hundred percent. Yeah, as you said, a lot of it is set at the end of their lives when they're octogenarians and much of it is also set in their childhood and when they're meeting in their teens. But as an octogenarian, Etta is also suffering from dementia and she's trying to, throughout the book, remember who she is. And she has this slip of paper in her pocket with the names of her family and her loved ones that she looks at to remember.
My mother also has dementia so that's something that my family is currently living through and I've never seen in art a representation of dementia that I found very interesting or true. This one was so interesting to me because Etta is still so brave. She's still trying to hang on to who she is and she's not the typical 80-year-old woman.
I found it really gave me a lot of hope in a way.
AH: Emma, I wanted to ask you how you see memory shaping our identities and the way we interact with the world around us?
EH: It almost entirely shapes our identities, doesn't it? It is how we form ourselves and others form their ideas of us through their memories of us. But when you're in Etta's position and memory is pushing and pulling a bit, it's nice that there can be things like this drive to move forward and get to the sea.
There are elements of us that are a little bit beyond that and that can be beyond that. I've got family members who've struggled with dementia as well and it's really interesting seeing what parts of them remain and stay constant and which parts ebb and flow and how that changes the relationship with themselves and with others and how in some ways it doesn't.
When you're in Etta's position and memory is pushing and pulling a bit, it's nice that there can be things like this drive to move forward and get to the sea.- Emma Hooper
MM: That's I think what I really liked about this portrayal of dementia is that there is not an instant of, "Oh, this is so sad and it's so hard."
Because of course obviously dementia is hard for the people around them, the family members of someone who's suffering. But there's not even a moment of that.
If anything, you just see it distilled down to the memories she's holding onto and she's not someone to pity, which was so refreshing.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
