Broken Symmetry by Rosalie Osmond
Broken Symmetry centres on the Wentzell family. The events unfold from 1943 to 1959 and mostly occur in their shared family home in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.
family
Akin by Emma Donoghue
Akin demonstrates yet again that, when it comes to fictional worlds, Emma Donoghue is at home everywhere. The novel is set in New York and Nice, France. Seventy-nine-year-old retired academic Noah—widowed, set in his ways, still living in the same apartment where he and his wife Joan (nine years dead) spent their married life and …
A Song From Faraway by Deni Ellis Béchard
A “Story-Producing Story” In James Wood’s essay “Serious Noticing” he makes this keen observation about fictional stories: “…one definition of a story might be that it always produces more of them. A story is story-producing. […] No single story can ever explain itself: this enigma at the heart of story is itself a story. Stories …
Acadian Driftwood: One Family and the Great Expulsion by Tyler LeBlanc
[dropcap]The[/dropcap] year 2020 marks 265 years since the Acadian Expulsion (Le Grande Dérangement) in 1755. Unfortunately, the outbreak of Covid-19 will likely not allow Acadians to gather together to observe this milestone year. Annually, on August 15th (the actual day of the start of the deportations), Acadians the world over observe their overcoming of the …
Good Mothers Don’t by Laura Best
It’s 1960, and Elizabeth has a good life. A husband who takes care of her, two healthy children, a farm in the Forties Settlement. But Elizabeth is slowly coming apart, her reality splintering. She knows she will harm her children, wants to harm her children, wants to be stopped from harming her children. She doesn’t sleep, becomes incoherent. Elizabeth is taken away.
Tacet by Suzanne Chiasson
Guernica Editions has published Vancouver author and poet Suzanne Chiasson’s first novel, Tacet which at under 200 pages flirts with the novella classification, and as such, leaves more questions unanswered than answered. It is the story of Charlotte, a singer (of the cabaret type) and Theo, a twentysomething actor who works in a restaurant to pay the rent to his good friend and roommate Curtis.
Reproduction by Ian Williams
Novels, like love and family, take many forms. On every page of Reproduction, his debut novel, Ian Williams finds ways to resist and defy conventional narrative practice while constructing an audacious and uniquely challenging story that crosses generational lines. In the process, he has written a poignant, resonant tale about intersecting lives and the ways that seemingly trivial decisions can have unexpected and far-reaching consequences.
Things Worth Burying by Matt Mayr
Living in New Brunswick, one is all too aware of the position logging played in its history. Masts and wood for sailing ships, houses, fireplaces and the list goes on. It is a similar story with other heavily forested parts of Canada such as Quebec and Northern Ontario, where Matt Mayr’s exceptional sophomore novel Things Worth Burying is set.
The Allspice Bath by Sonia Saikaley
Award-winning author Sonia Saikely’s newest novel, The Allspice Bath is an enjoyable, yet emotional story about a Lebanese family living in Ottawa in the 70s-90s.
The Daughter Who Walked Away by Kimia Eslah
A powerful and beautiful debut novel by Kimia Eslah, The Daughter Who Walked Away explores the lives of three Iranian women, across three generations, as they struggle to love and be loved unconditionally.
Claremont by Wiebke von Carolsfeld
One of the welcome surprises I get from time to time is reading a work of fiction set in a location near where I used to live. Claremont by Wiebke von Carolsfeld (2019, Linda Leith Publishing) is set not only in Toronto but in the Trinity-Bellwoods neighbourhood where I lived for about a year back …
Broken Man on a Halifax Pier by Lesley Choyce
Fifty-five-year-old Charles Howard has lost his long-time journalism job and has been swindled out of his life savings. Standing by the edge of Halifax Harbour on a foggy morning, contemplating his dismal future, his ritual of self-pity is interrupted with the appearance of the mysterious and beguiling Ramona Danforth.
Melba’s Wash by Reesa Steinman Brotherton
Grand Manan Island is part of the province of New Brunswick and has a population of just over 2,000 (as of 2016). It is also the setting for Melba’s Wash by Reesa Steinman Brotherton, who was born in New Brunswick, and whose own story slightly follows that of Esther, the main protagonist. It’s difficult to …
Side by Side by Anita Kushwaha
According to the Government of Canada website, every day, an average of more than 10 Canadians dies by suicide. For every person lost to suicide, many more experience thoughts of suicide or suicide attempts. For every death by suicide, at least 7 to 10 survivors are significantly affected by the loss. For Kavita Gupta, the …
A Joy To Be Hidden by Ariela Freedman
Having enjoyed two of Linda Leith Publishing’s recent titles (Hutchison Street and The Philistine) I picked up Ariela Freedman’s newest novel, A Joy to be Hidden hoping the quality of writing would be sustained. A few pages in, and I was entirely hooked into reading it. While her protagonist Alice Stein is likeable, it is …
