In the Wake by Nicola Davison
In the Wake is a novel that contains a mild, but ever-present strain of suspense and an undertone of distrust amongst its protagonists, which makes for the type of novel that keeps you reading until the final page.
Nova Scotia
A Circle on the Surface by Carol Bruneau
While Carol Bruneau’s award-winning 2017 book of short stories, A Bird on Every Tree was excellent and well received (“Her exceptional prose reveals how much there is to discover in the every day” raved Publishersweekly.com), it merely whetted our appetites for one of her full-length works like Glass Voices (2007) or These Good Hands (2015). The wait is over for Nimbus Publishing has released A Circle on the Surface.… Continue reading
The Light a Body Radiates by Ethel Whitty
At fifty-eight pages into The Light a Body Radiates by Ethel Whitty (2018, Caitlin Press), Eileen Macpherson’s grandmother tells her:
“If you’re a storyteller, it’s your job to make it a story that wants to be told. Where we come from, the one who always keeps the stories is the granddaughter.” Then she murmured, “You can be that granddaughter to me.” In response to the confusion she read on my face, she continued in a less conspiratorial tone, “Don’t worry, they’ll be good stories.”
The Light a Body Radiates comprises a good story in its 280+ pages.… Continue reading
Come From Away by Genevieve Graham
closely at the cover image of Come From Away (2018 Simon and Schuster). The young woman is Grace Baker, daughter of Danny and Audrey Baker, the main protagonists of Ms. Graham’s hugely successful 2015 novel Tides of Honour. Who is the young blond-haired man? See the submarine in the lower right corner? That’s supposed to be U-69 (although the image is definitely not that of a German WWII-era U-boat).… Continue reading
Piau: Journey to the Promised Land by Bruce Murray
is encouraging to see more books (either fictional or non-fictional) being written about the Acadians and their lives and way of life before and after 1755. That was the year of “Le Grand Dérangement” when they were the victims of cultural genocide by the occupying British command and put on ships to be dispersed around the globe, never to return to their beloved Acadia. Some stayed, only to be enslaved, forced to work the land they once farmed as their own, but now for British landowners.… Continue reading
The Left-Behind Bride by Mahrie G. Reid
The Left-Behind Bride is #10 in the twelve book series “Canadian Historical Brides” published by BWL Publishing. Each of the Canadian Historical Brides novels features one of the ten Canadian provinces (this one is Nova Scotia) and two of the novels feature the three Canadian Territories. These novels combine fact and fiction to tell the stories of the immigrant brides and grooms who came to Canada from diverse backgrounds to join in marriage and build the foundation of the free and welcoming country that is Canada.… Continue reading