Among the Colours is a tangle of human lives. It follows the affair between Sir Frederick Banting, a co-discoverer of insulin, and Blodwen Davies, a young journalist exploring the mysterious circumstances of Tom Thomson's death. Time and circumstance brought the two together. She fell in love with him, the hero who saved the lives of diabetics the world over, and he welcomed her attention. Headlines rocked the nation when Banting accused his wife Marion Robertson of an affair she did not have and sued for divorce. With the courts siding in his favour, Banting soon forgot his promises to Davies and chased after the other youthful skirts that caught his eye. Fred Banting and Tom Thomson shared a passion for painting. The one found life in art; the other escaped in his. Blodwen Davies brought the two together. Never forgetting the lesson she learned the hard way, having been abandoned by a married man, she made a career of writing travelogues for newspapers, magazines, and histories of Canada and the Mennonites of Ontario. Before Banting, diabetics were treated with starvation diets to reduce their blood sugar and their lives were hardly worth living. Before Thomson, Canadian art was mostly derivative. Before Davies, women were treated like chattel. Then, they were accorded rights as persons under the law. James Gregory Randall unravels a tale that needs to be told. Stories from the past inform the present. They place human life on a continuum that is generations long, situating day-to-day circumstances within the cadence of a grander narrative. Among the Colours finds hope in the long view.
