Be Good
by Stacey May Fowles
Toronto: Tightrope Books, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9783351-0-6, 183 pp., $18.95 paper.

Fear of Fighting
by Stacey May Fowles, illustrated by Marlena Zuber
Halifax & Montreal: Invisible Publishing, 2008, ISBN 978-0-9782185-5-3, 217 pp., $19.95 paper.

Two recent novels introduce a bold and funny new voice, that of Toronto's Stacey May Fowles. Whether or not she is related to John (The French Lieutenant's Woman) Fowles, the name does conjure up certain expectations, and Stacey May does not disappoint.

Her first novel bears an enviable title--Be Good--the admonition uttered by parents everywhere, or perhaps by lovers who are going to be apart for an extended period of time. In this novel, it's the last couple of words on postcards being sent to one of the female protagonists by a guy who's travelling in Europe and Morocco.

Fowles tells the story through many first-person narrators, principally good friends Hannah and Morgan. Hannah has followed a fellow named Finn from Montreal to Vancouver, thinking he might be the love of her life. "When I came west I wanted--no--was going to be the girl at the Sunday farmer's market who just had an orgasm in a sun-drenched four-poster bed a few hours before." (17)

The fun of going from one point of view to another is that the reader isn't sure who to believe. Here's Hannah on Morgan: "Everything about Morgan was as made up as her name, her life a carefully linked chain of half-truths and full un-truths." (24) Here's Morgan on Hannah: "Hannah's a liar. She's always been a liar. Despite the art school stint, Hannah's really a writer and, by default, she has no real sense of truth, is consumed by fiction and lives in Great Expectations." (51)

And here's Morgan on herself: "I am the type of girl men cheat on their girlfriends and wives with. . . . I am happy to live on the whore side of the virgin/whore complex, and I take a strange pride in the fact that I am the one who allows girls with cherry lip gloss and firm morals to find a love that only really exists in reaction to me." (22)

Interspersed with these lively monologues are the voices of such other characters as Estella, another good friend of Morgan and Hannah; Jacob, the guy Morgan lived with for a while; and Finn. Contrasting with these young voices is a more conservative one from the older man Morgan toys with, Mr. Templeton.

We hear a lot about the parties, little about the jobs, but the contemporary young people's world presented by Fowles seems vividly authentic. Ultimately, this is Hannah's story, as she becomes disenchanted with Finn and life on the west coast, and the contrast of her life with that of the jaded Morgan is effectively done.

Fowles's second novel, Fear of Fighting, is also told through first-person narration, this time mostly from the point of view of a single character, Marnie. She's almost thirty and her story concerns her relationship with Ben. Most of the novel deals with her going through, and adjusting to, their break-up, and her articulating of this is both moving and amusing.

In Marnie's view, growing up is about "making yourself lonely enough to finally surrender to picking out a single person to spend the rest of your days with." (22)

She goes on to say, "When I met Ben I was in that space in-between--too old to share space and split rent with friends anymore, but not yet ready to share a bed with someone. Instead, I was alone and admittedly lonely. Perhaps that's why I was vulnerable to let him in." (22)

Fowles captures the ennui of a relationship going sour. Marnie and Ben go through weeks of barely tolerating each other. When Marnie goes to Ben's after work, Ben's big dog Bill "would hide in the bathroom for fear of fighting"; (106) this latter phrase is picked up as the book's title.

Though Marnie believes that it's Ben who made her interesting, she gradually sees that she, unlike many jilted women, does not want self-destruction but rather self-preservation. We see the not-especially-attractive Marnie evolve into a warm, likeable character in her own right.

Along the way, there are some nice touches, such as this observation about the trauma caused by having parents who are still in love: "While all the other kids in my elementary school were suffering the ill effects of their parents splitting up, I would experience the nausea associated with catching your folks making out in the laundry room." (124)

And there are intermittent comments from another character, an older fellow not unlike Mr. Templeton in Be Good--he's Neil, who lives across the hall form Marnie.

When Ben's current squeeze Fiona arrives at Marnie's door, the novel takes a turn toward a funny and upbeat denouement.

This would seem to be a peculiar novel to illustrate, but the text is accompanied by Marlena Zuber's stylized and whimsical drawings.

In both of Fowles's novels, the young people do a lot of vomiting--too much, maybe, but not enough to provoke a similar reaction on the part of the reader. Rather, Be Good and Fear of Fighting are cause for celebration; they mark the arrival upon the CanLit scene of a refreshing new voice, a fine young talent.

Dave Williamson is a Winnipeg novelist.

Buy BE GOOD at McNally-Robinson Booksellers.
Buy FEAR OF FIGHTING at McNally-Robinson Booksellers.

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