Tessa Green’s father was a good man despite the murders he allegedly committed.
This is the ominous beginning to Millarville author Hugo Bonjean’s latest novel “A People’s Power” which released earlier this year.
The essence of Bonjean’s book is a daughter’s struggled to understand the man who was her father.
At the onset of the book, police have gunned down David Green after he apparently murdered the CEO and several executive-vice presidents of an agricultural chemical company known as Empuro Inc.
After the impassioned introduction from Tessa the rest of the book unfolds as a collection of journal entries and written correspondence to, from and about David. The reader is challenged to examine the sustainable farmer’s actions and legacy to determine whether he was good man or not.
Bonjean said he was inspired to use the unusual prose format featured in “A People’s Power” after reading a novel by another author.
“I always say story has it’s own life and I am just there to follow the story,” he explained. “It wasn’t something I originally planned. The first time I saw this sort of thing it was in a book by Paulo Coelho. I have studied Coelho quite significantly because in my mind he is one of the best author’s in the world.”
Coelho, a Brazilian writer, used a storytelling style in his 2007 novel “The Witch of Portobello” which featured many different characters recounting in the first person what they thought and believed about the book’s deceased female protagonist.
Bonjean said he thought the unconventional writing technique was a stroke of genius.
“I remember thinking this book is written brilliantly but it is something I could never do,” he said.
Then a few years later as he was penning “A People’s Power” he found he actually could utilize a first person’s perspective from many different characters.
He contended it allowed him to gradually reveal the mystery of one man’s life while maintaining an intimate personal relationship with the reader.
“A People’s Power” is Bonjean’s third novel and follows “In the Eyes of Anahita” published in 2005 and “Seeds: …of Germination or Termination” released in 2008. All three works of fiction deal with the negative effect corporate ambition can have on the everyday person.
Bonjean has experience in is favourite topic as he was once an executive for a large international corporation. As a vice-president in a Latin American division he had some firsthand experience with the affects of poverty, which led him to become a sustainability activist in areas economical, political, social, environmental and spiritual.
As the title “A People’s Power” explains Bonjean said he hoped more citizens would get involved in ensuring they have a voice in matters which concern them.
“Corporate power really has taken over from people power these days,” he said. “Corporate culpability is not something that exists in a vacuum, it’s something we give power to.”
Belgian born and raised Bonjean is currently on an extensive book signing tour in Eastern Canada and is looking forward to returning to the Foothills where he serves as vice-president of the Millarville Racing and Agricultural Society.
For information on how to get Bonjean’s books and more details on the author go to www.hugobonjean.com
