Guy Vanderhaeghe's A Good Man McClelland & Stewart, 2011 Sebastian Barry has said that a good historical novel is about "retrieving the present moment".* That is true of Guy Vanderhaeghe's A Good Man. From the beautiful but austere cover art of the frontier, to the detailed descriptions of fort and
Marina Endicott's The Little Shadows Random House - Doubleday, 2011 Last Sunday, Marina Endicott appeared with Nicole Lundrigan, Riel Nason and Miriam Toews at a round table, moderated by the (talented) Susan G. Cole, at the 32nd annual International Festival of Authors. Sometimes in a round table session, one author
David Bezmozgis' The Free World HarperCollins, 2011 The Krasnansky family is making their way out of Soviet Russia, travelling to Rome. Samuil, the patriarch, is annoyed by the tour guide's suggestion that the history of Western civilization could be plotted along the road that the bus is travelling. "Their history:
Dan Vyleta's The Quiet Twin Harper Collins, 2011 Dan Vyleta's The Quiet Twin is like Hitchcock's "Rear Window" gone wrong-er. There's no Technicolor; imagine everyone is dressed in black, and that some individuals conceal an over-sized pocket-knife. Instead of the director cameo, there is a little blonde girl with pigtails
When I first tried to determine the most challenging part of this season's prize-list reading, I was about to stare down the Giller longlist. Yes, you, with your 5318 pages, of which I have read only 4012. I'm not giving up, and I still have a week! And I know
