A Crack in the Wall by Betty Jane Hegerat Oolichan Books, 2008 240 pages Reviewed by Elizabeth Nolan The attempt to understand the human condition is at the heart of all great art and literature. For Albertan writer Betty Jean Hegerat, this quest must have even more profound depths, coming as she does from [...]
A New Leaf: Growing with My Garden by Merilyn Simonds Random House, 2011 A Note from Merilyn Simonds For most of my life, I’ve grown the food my family eats and the flowers that bring beauty to our table. I’ve often thought, as the world where I live became affluent and the drift toward urbanization [...]
Miriam Toews’ new novel, Irma Voth, brings us back to the beloved voice of her award-winning, #1 bestseller A Complicated Kindness, and to a Mennonite community in the Mexican desert. Original and brilliant, she is a master of storytelling at the height of her powers, who manages with trademark wry wit and a fierce tenderness to [...]
Key in Lock by Rona Altrows Calgary, Recliner Books, 2010 239pp. CAD $18.95 978-0-9813640-4-9 Reviewed by Annie Vigna The cover of Rona Altrows’ Key in Lock, a collection of 27 short stories, is adorned with Woman in Contemplation, a drawing created by Gabriel von Max. “Woman in Contemplation” might have been a suitable title for this [...]
Mennonites Don’t Dance by Darcie Friesen Hossack Thistledown Press, 2010 201 pp. $18.95 CAD 978-1-897235-78-2 Reviewed by Annie Vigna Mennonites Don’t Dance, the title of Darcie Friesen Hossack’s collection of eleven short stories, evokes constraint, restraint, and foreboding. It suggests that there are rules, and perhaps consequences for breaking rules or rebelling against rules. The [...]
Murder on the Bow by John Ballem Calgary, Recliner Books, 2010 325pp. $14.99 978-0-9813640-2-5 Reviewed by Annie Vigna Murder on the Bow is the second book published by Dustin Smith, chief editor at Recliner Books, the newest publishing company in Calgary. That John Ballem loved the city of Calgary is well known to those [...]
Notes for Monday By Barb Howard Recliner Books, 102 pages 978-3-16-148410-0 Reviewed by Annie Vigna Barb Howard’s novella, Notes for Monday, is set during the XV Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988. Many readers will remember with great joy those exciting days in February. But Howard’s protagonist, 75-year-old Tommy McBeath, Q.C., is uninterested. Indeed, [...]
Sex in Russia by Kenneth Radu DC Books, Montreal, Quebec ISBN 978-1-897190-65-4 (pbk.) 189pp Reviewed by Annie Vigna Sex in Russia contains fifteen stories in only 189 pages; yet, written with such generosity and genuine affection for his characters, Kenneth Radu’s collection seems larger, longer. Perhaps it is because this gifted author begins each [...]
The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton by Sheryl Salloum Mother Tongue Publishing, 2011 About The Life and Art of Mildred Valley Thornton Book Club Buddy: What do you think readers will find most notable about this book? Sheryl Salloum: Readers will find the art of Mildred Valley Thornton fascinating because they will discover [...]
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