Mennonites Don’t Dance by Darcie Friesen Hossack

Posted by Pearl Fiction Monday, August 30th, 2010

Mennonites Don’t Dance is a vibrant collection of short fictions exploring how families work, how they are torn apart, and, in spite of differences and struggles, brought back together.

Darcie Friesen Hossack’s stories in Mennonites Don’t Dance offer an honest, detailed look into the experiences of children — both young and adult—and their parents and grandparents, exploring generational ties, sins, penance and redemption.

Taking place primarily on the Canadian prairies, the families in these stories are confronted by the conflict between tradition and change — one story sees a daughter-in-law’s urban ideals push and pull against a mother’s simple, rural ways; in another, a daughter raised in the Mennonite tradition tries to break free from her upbringing to escape to the city in search of a better life. Children learn the rules of farm life, and parents learn that their decisions, despite good intentions, can carry dire consequences.

Hossack’s talent, honed through education and experience, is showcased in this polished collection, and is reflected in the relatable, realistic characters and situations she creates. The voices in the stories speak about how we measure ourselves in the absence of family, and how the most interesting families are always flawed in some way.

About the Author

Darcie Friesen Hossack is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers, and has been a food writer for the Kelowna Daily Courier and Kamloops This Week for the past six years. Her fiction has appeared in journals and magazines in western Canada, such as Prairie Journal and Rhubarb Magazine. Her stories “Year of the Grasshopper” and “Little Lamb” were nominated for McClelland & Stewart Journey Prizes.

Praise for Mennonites Don’t Dance

~ Shortlisted for the 2011 Commonwealth Prize for Best First Book, Canada/Caribbean

“Darcie Hossack’s  stories reverberate with what has been left unsaid, the silence between people that speaks of betrayal, forgiveness, and the power of love to prevail. This is a fine debut by a very promising writer.” —Sandra Birdsell

“Uncompromising and often devastating, the stories in this collection prove the title true — both literally and metaphorically — but these very constraints make the stories’ hard-won moments of joy and insight especially memorable. A vivid, breathtaking book.” — Andreas Schroeder

“Darcie Hossack introduces a culture in which dancing isverboten but the sensual pleasures of food are celebrated with artery-clogging abandon; life is  cruel but rich in moments of grace. With unflinching honesty, black humour and compassion, she serves up prose as richly palatable as cream gravy.”— Betty Jane Hegerat, author of Delivery

Visit Darcie’s WEBSITE

Read a review in the Globe & Mail

[tags]mennonites, mennonite fiction, mennonite stories[/tags]

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