The title of Grace O'Connell's debut novel is pulled from a poem by Helen Humphreys, "Blurring".* It's ironic that the closer you examine something, the harder it is to focus, and this is a truth which Maggie Pierce inhabits when Magnified World opens. She is reeling from her
"Reality is for people who can't handle fiction -- and that is mostly everybody." Elliot Johnson has been writing screenplays in LA, but he's been having trouble selling his fictions. House of Anansi, 2011 That's Elliot Johnson. Or Elliot Johnston, or Elliot Jonson: it depends which document you're
What happens inside, behind closed doors, in private moments, and in minds and hearts: that's the stuff of Alix Ohlin's novel. House of Anansi, 2012 "'He wouldn’t let me in,' she said, 'and I refused to stay out.'" Mitch's mother says that of his father. She is not
Whether it's Alva's job in a summer resort in "Sunday Afternoon" or Edie looking after the kids and doing what needs doing in "How I Met My Husband", Alice Munro captures the twinned knowingness and vulnerability of a girl in her first job. Few other authors (Alissa York would be
This was one of the first Orange Prize nominees that I bought. Last year, two debut novels on the longlist made my personal shortlist. (Anna Peile's and Samantha Hunt's) Serpent's Tail, 2012 I had high hopes for this novel and, in many ways, I was rewarded for my
