Tag: Canadian author

Mallee Stanley’s—You can’t clap with one hand

This is my seventh year at reviewing my best reads, but the first time I’m mentioning You can’t clap with one hand. It’s my third manuscript, but the first to be published. The blurb on the back cover reads:

Growing up in a South Asian household in Uganda, Guli becomes an expert at crafting successful schemes to outwit her father and his misogynistic ways. Years later, when Idi Amin seizes power, the Nile becomes a grim stream of death and Guli fails to outsmart her husband. His ambition blinds him and thrusts her in a perilous situation with long lasting consequences.

It was inspired by my time in Uganda during Idi Amin’s rule and I’ve written about some of those experiences on my travel blog on wordpress—From here to there.

Jamie Bastedo’s—On thin ice

Ashley’s family have moved to the northern Canadian village of Nanurtalik where because of her mixed heritage, she doesn’t feel she fits in with the Inuit people in her village or at school. But vivid dreams of polar bears and storms confuse and frighten her. And when she looks into Uncle Jonah staring at her, she senses fear. Will she be able to overcome and interpret her dreams?

This is a beautifully written YA coming of age story about Ashley discovering her roots and purpose with a window into Inuit culture.

Jennifer Manuel—The Heaviness of Things that Float

Bernadette has been the First Nations’ nurse on the Tawakin Reserve for the last forty years. She’s hoping to retire without any fuss, but one disturbing, then tragic event after another occurs and an accusing finger is being pointed at her. She has been a diligent and hard-working nurse and the accusation cuts deeply. She thinks back to the events over the decades and her love for Frank’s child, Chase who has disappeared. Despite the Tawakin residents searching for him, he is nowhere to be found.

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Jamie Chai Yun Liew’s—Dandelion

In a small mining town in eastern British Columbia, Lily and her sister Bea suffer racial slurs because of their Chinese heritage. At home, they listen to their mother’s constant moaning about how she hates Canada and nothing is as good as Brunei where she spent most of her earlier life. Just as the mine is closing down, their father discovers their mother’s clothes are gone and there’s no sign of her. The father is forced to bring up the children with the help of his sister and they move to Calgary.

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