by prfire | Feb 28, 2020 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Fiction
In the title poem of her newest collection, This White Nest, Frances Boyle poses the question “What shines?” This is the question that sits with the reader as they make their way through the poems, but others soon weave their way in, too. In “Tutelage,”...
by prfire | Dec 19, 2019 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Fiction
‘Ordinary’ and ‘strangers’ are two words that seem contradictory. Yet they fit in this fine book by Bill Stenson, author of Svoboda and Hanne and Her Brothers among others. Sage and Della Howard are a couple on their way to Fernie, BC. After a brief stop in Hope where...
by prfire | Dec 9, 2019 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Fiction
Coopsammy’s novel, set in Trinidad in the 1950’s, features Tessa Joseph who is eight years old when the story begins and nineteen when it ends with her leaving the island, having won a scholarship to attend university in Delhi. Tessa is an avid reader who dreams of...
by prfire | Nov 28, 2019 | Book Reviews, Fiction
Biblioasis, along with famous Canadian cartoonist Seth, have once again released three Victorian ghost stories just in time for the holiday season, and they’re fantastic. Harkening back to the tradition of telling ghost stories at Christmas, these stocking...
by prfire | Jun 6, 2019 | All Reviews, Book Reviews, Fiction
Marriage. We make jokes about it. We have names for it such as jumping the broom, vows, a socially recognized union, a sanctioned contract. A match. But what does a marriage entail? Celebration. Despair. Or more. Early in Kathy Page’s novel, Dear Evelyn, David...
by prfire | Feb 27, 2019 | Book Reviews, Fiction
Stories are meant to be told, to be absorbed, thought about and laughed over. Appreciated. They float in the air like will o’ wisps, waiting for the storyteller to reach out and grasp them. It is then and only then that they become solid, and are given meaning. Norma...
