Book Read
2. Agnes, Murderess – Sarah Leavitt
Kilometres Ran
week four – 71.6
2020 to date: 234 KM
Agnes, Murderess is a graphic novel written and illustrated by Sarah Leavitt that found its way into my stocking Christmas morning (it doesn’t actually fit in a stocking). It tells the embellished back story and retells the probably embellished story of Agnes McVee, who makes her way from an isolated upbringing in rural Scotland, to London, then to the interior of British Columbia where she became a notorious madam, robber and murderess. I grew up in the interior of B.C. and I’ve never heard of her. The author-illustrator’s only source material is a book that features Agnes, self-published in the 1990s. So it is probably not true, just like just about every single other novel ever written. The story is good, and the raw, scratchy illustration style has a gothic quality that really suits it. I liked this book quite a bit, not always rooting for Agnes, but the story is quite good. It could be true. It’s probably true. There’s probably some truth to it.
This week in running was not especially eventful. After four weeks of 60 KM I added day number five and eased up to 70 KM where I’d like to linger for a couple weeks, maybe two or three. I’m back to running on Tuesday and Thursday evenings after the days in the office, and getting back into it was shockingly easy, especially with the weather in Vancouver being so especially Vancouver-like – dark and gloomy and pouring rain. On Thursday evening I hurt my hand near the beginning of my run when I punched a taxi. Sure we were sharing the crosswalk, technically, I guess, but that stop sign he ignored was all his and his alone. And before you ask, yes, I was wearing all black like I always do, and yes it was dark. But in my defence I was wearing these (embarrassing) bright, flashing LED lights on my wrists (so embarrassing, I would not be caught dead with them in the light of day…) and we made eye contact as I entered the crosswalk and he, I assume, thought, “I can beat him.” But I’m pretty quick for middle age and I figure that if I can touch your car in a crosswalk, it’s fair game. My hand is fine now, thanks for asking, and in case you’re worried I’m sure the cab is too. Two weeks until First Half!
