Few literary forms seem as under-appreciated as the novella. Readers of literary fiction frequently experience the sting of a short story cut off prematurely, or the drudgery that is plodding through a novel that is padded to justify its length. The novella, like the short fiction anthology, is something many publishers shy away from for market reasons, although there is clearly an appetite for them among readers of fiction.
Novelist and columnist Jean Marc Ah-Sen workaround for the publishing industry’s novellaphobia has been to collect four novellas by four separate writers and unite them on thematic lines. This pandemic artistic project began with Disintegration in Four Parts and was followed by Blasphemy and Other Ancestors and Dead Writers.
The fourth book in the sequence, Now I Shall Leave You to Your Fate brings together Fawn Parker, Liz Harmer, and Sophie McCreesh, along with a novella by Jean Marc himself. The theme that ties these novellas together is mental health crises, and the end result is a fine collection that can be shelved alongside of Denis Johnson, Ottessa Moshfegh, JT LeRoy and Erica Jong.
The first piece, “Some Recent Experiences”, by Giller-nominated Fawn Parker, explores the life of a woman in a constant tug-of-war with her eating disorder. Although the first half of the piece is mainly about the narrator’s struggle with her eating disorder, it sets the stage of the conflict of the next half, which is her struggle with the world around her. She has kept her disorder under control enough to have a baby, and the struggle that was internal becomes something external. The supposedly “healthy” or “normal” people surrounding the narrator, their own anxieties and foibles, become the oppressive force against which she must press.
Liz Harmer’s Lighthouse feels like a memoir with an unreliable narrator, where everything past and present is called into question. The Strange Loops author takes readers both deep into the past and into her narrator’s mind with dirty realist prose that would make Raymond Carver proud. A woman looking back on a history of mental illness tries to piece together her past. In her search for wholeness, we see the struggles of not only navigating a crisis, but navigating a world of people who at once don’t blame someone for their illness and do blame them for the burden associated with it.
My Close Friends, by Sophie McCreesh, continues the streak she set with her debut novel Once More, With Feeling. The narrator of this piece, like many of us, is having trouble distinguishing between real life and the life that we see on our social media feeds. In trying to determine who her “close friends” are, to be added to an Instagram close friends list, we see a person who is out of touch with reality, as well as the curated reality that people present online. McCreesh’s wit, keen observations and talent of portraying introspection on the page, leads to a raw, sharp story that cuts right down to the bone. The matter-of-fact narrative voice highlights the absurdity of our social media culture, which emphasizes how abnormal it really is to curate a life in posts, photos and reels on the Internet.
The final and longest piece in the collection, Busybody, shines a spotlight on Jean Marc Ah-Sen’s distinct voice and literary style. It’s a contemporary story written in the tone of the early novelists like Burney, Fielding and Stern. Without stooping to incel cliches, Ah-Sen gives us a lonely male character caught up in the charisma of his more attractive, more successful best friend. The power imbalance, and the voyeurism that rises in response to it, create a set of circumstances both comical and cringeworthy. All-in-all, the strength of the book comes from the lineup, four writers shining their lights on the shadows that dwell within the human psyche. There is a temptation to swing for the fences when writing about mental illness or drug use, an impulse to throw off the shackles of reality and indulge surreality. But that isn’t the case with Now I Shall Leave You to Your Fate. A skillful control exists over each piece, so orderly it seems random. It’s the difference between speeding out of control and winning a Formula 1 race. The book teems with vulnerability and humour, struggle and humanity. A reader should expect nothing less from four of Canada’s most promising writers.
Publisher: ARP Books (September 29, 2025)
Paperback 8″ x 6″ | 168 pages
ISBN: 9781997544005
Jeff Dupuis is a writer and editor living in Toronto. He is the author of The Creature X Mystery novels and numerous short stories, which have been published in The Ex-Puritan and The Temz Review among others. Jeff is the editor, alongside A.G. Pasquella, of the anthology Devouring Tomorrow: Fiction from the Future of Food, which will be published in 2025 by Dundurn Press.
- Jeff Dupuishttps://miramichireader.ca/author/jeff-dupuis/
- Jeff Dupuishttps://miramichireader.ca/author/jeff-dupuis/
- Jeff Dupuishttps://miramichireader.ca/author/jeff-dupuis/
- Jeff Dupuishttps://miramichireader.ca/author/jeff-dupuis/
- Jeff Dupuishttps://miramichireader.ca/author/jeff-dupuis/
- Jeff Dupuishttps://miramichireader.ca/author/jeff-dupuis/
