Tag: Canadian setting

Jennifer Manuel—The Heaviness of Things that Float

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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Ming Louie Stein’s—Kintsugi

Ming Louie Stein’s—Kintsugi

In the 1960s when Annuii is two, she’s left with her grandmother in Hong Kong while her parents immigrate to Canada. She is loved and cherished by Grandmother Jong, but when she’s reunited with her parents in Vancouver two years later, her mother tells her she is worthless because she’s a girl. Her childhood is spent under a disgruntled and abusive mother and a weak father who’s addicted to gambling. Without receiving parental love as a child, Annuii begins a quest, searching for affection elsewhere. This leads to disillusionment, but can Annuii examine her bad choices and start again?

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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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