This season, I took a break from my reading projects and played with the longlists for some of the Canadian literary prizes. Before I'd quite finished, I started in with the next Mavis Gallant short story collection. Still, I might yet finish the three remaining books. Alternatively, they might wait
In which pages are turned, at a faster rate than usual. Character-soaked, but still fast-paced storytelling. Cherie Dimaline's The Marrow Thieves (2017) is set in a future in which the dominant culture has determined that the blood of indigenous peoples holds an inherent value for healing. Exploitation and genocide ensue. This
Boundaries and borders, between countries and between stages of life: Andrée A. Michaud's Boundary darts across the dotted lines, back and forth, sedately in one moment and chillingly the next. Because the story revolves around the murders of two young women in the small community of Bondrée, questions of
Like David Chariandry's Brother, The Bone Mother is preoccupied with the power of storytelling, with the particular significance of telling one's own story. The stories in David Demchuk's book are told simply, in a fable-like tone, with clarity and attention to detail. They are linked, but not in a
The novel begins with a news article, about a chronograph believed to have been lost with the Franklin expedition but discovered many years later, disguised as a Victorian carriage clock. Minds of Winter offers readers a glimpse into then and now and times in-between. There are no overarching commentaries
