Tag: Canadian author

Michael Christie’s—Greenwood *****

Michael Christie’s—Greenwood *****

What first fascinated me about this book was its structure. Like the rings of a tree, the story begins on the outer ring in the future and heads to the centre—its heartwood—going back in time exploring a key member of the Greenwood clan to 1934. Then the story heads out across the rings to the opposite edge completing Greenwood lives until it ends with Jake in 2038.

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Kathleen Winter’s—Annabel*****

Kathleen Winter’s—Annabel*****

In a remote Labrador community during the 1960s, Jacinta and Treadway have a child. After the birth, Jacinta and Thomasina, who helped with the birth, decide to keep the baby’s hermaphrodite condition to themselves, but Treadway senses something is wrong with their child. The child, Wayne is taken to the Goose Bay hospital where, at Treadway’s insistence, the baby’s female condition is suppressed through operations and drugs. As Wayne grows, Treadway introduces the boy into his male domain of hunting while Jacinta saddens at the loss of a daughter.

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Yasuko Thanh’s—To the bridge*****

Yasuko Thanh’s—To the bridge*****

Rose carries a load of baggage that is slowly revealed after her daughter, Juliet tries to commit suicide. She questions what she has done wrong as a mother while defending her actions to her husband, Syd who has done little to support the parenting of their teenage daughter.

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Rebecca Silver Slayer’s—In the land of birdfishes *****

Rebecca Silver Slayer’s—In the land of birdfishes *****

After two twins Mara and Aileen, witness their mother’s suicide their father is wild with grief. He blindfolds both girls so they won’t see the worst in the world, causing Mara to become blind and Aileen ‘s eyesight to be damaged. When a Nova Scotia neighbour discovers what he has done to his children, they are separated from their father and each other and it is not until years later that Aileen discovers where her sister is living. She leaves a broken marriage and heads to Dawson City, but when she arrives she struggles to decipher fact from fiction in the tales Mara’s son, Jason spins. Will she ever learn the truth about what happened to her sister?

A well written tale that because of Jason’s twisting of the truth, the ending couldn’t be fathomed until the very last page.