The List of Last Chances by Christina Myers Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2021 $22.95 / 9781773860596 Reviewed by Myshara Herbert-McMyn * The List of Last Chances by Christina Myers is a wild adventure across the endless and fascinating country of Canada. Our two protagonists—Ruthie and Kay—are hilarious in their encounters and differing experiences. While Ruthie…
Read more 1176 Road trip of change and chance
Murder 101 by Richard Boyer Victoria: FriesenPress, 2021 $16.99 / 9781525584527 Reviewed by Robin Fisher * I have great admiration for those of my academic colleagues who, after a career of doing empirical work, then change gears and write successful fiction. The President to whom I reported at Mount Royal University, David Marshall, has in…
Read more 1170 A master class in murder
Fishing for Birds by Linda Quennec Toronto: Inanna Publications, 2019 $22.95 / 9781771336130 Reviewed by Paul Headrick * Fishing for Birds tells the stories of three women who live on islands: Kate, a widow in her thirties, has settled in a small cabin on the fictional BC Gulf Island of Britannia; Kate’s mother, Nora, is…
Read more 1168 Islands are for overcoming
Six Weeks to Live by Catherine McKenzie Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada (Atria Books), 2021 $27.00 / 9781982159214 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Although Six Weeks to Live begins on a very sombre note and appears to be a book about dealing with imminent death, author Catherine McKenzie soon turns her story into a psychological…
Read more 1162 Six of one, three of another
The Four-Faced Liar: Short Stories and Flash Fiction by P.W. Bridgman Victoria: Ekstasis Editions, 2021 $25.95 / 9781771714143 Reviewed by Sheldon Goldfarb * Sometimes you read a story and say, Wait, that’s my story: how did the author know about that? The $900,000 windfall, the Vancouver house-buying, the wandering spouse. Has he been spying on…
Read more 1158 Beckon the distant and strange
INTERVIEW: Sarah Mintz with Nathaniel G. Moore Sarah Mintz grew up in Greenwood (BC), Goose Bay, Victoria, Courtenay, Vancouver, Montreal, and Moose Jaw and now calls Victoria home. She’s worked at video stores, thrift stores, pet stores, managed buildings, shovelled snow, and answered the phone. As a recent graduate of the English M.A program at…
Read more 1156 A good deal of handwringing
All That Monk Business by Barry Kennedy Surrey: Now Or Never Publishing, 2021 $19.95 / 9781989689202 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * A novel can’t be everything to everyone, but some novels can be many things to many people. All That Monk Business, by actor, comedian, and writer Barry Kennedy, is one of these. It’s not…
Read more 1154 The elusive shape of life
Prologue to Love by Martha Ostenso, with an introduction by Hannah McGregor Picton, ON: Invisible Publishing, 2020 (first published in New York by Dodd, Mead & Co., 1932) $23.95 / 9781988784595 Reviewed by Miranda Marini * The thing about novels being situated in an actual, geographic place is how those depictions then resonate with readers…
Read more 1151 A Kamloops classic
Victoria Sees It by Carrie Jenkins Toronto: Penguin Random House (Strange Light), 2021 $24.95 / 9780771049279 Reviewed by Kathy Mezei * Victoria sees it, perhaps. And so perhaps will the reader, who is handed one of many clues to the novel’s mysteries on the very first page: “Seeing the world as it really is makes…
Read more 1149 Looking in the wrong place
A Lethal Lesson: A Lane Winslow Mystery by Iona Whishaw Victoria: TouchWood Editions, 2021 $16.95 / 9781771513531 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * From Agatha Christie to Louise Penny, writers of mystery series have known the value of a village to ground their plots: establish winning recurring main and secondary characters, imagine quotidian landmarks in extraordinary…
Read more 1147 Kootenay schoolhouse sleuthing
Trappings by Vanessa Winn Victoria: Oakheart Press, 2020 $24.95 / 9781777040802 Reviewed by Valerie Green * Trappings takes place in the early colonial days of British Columbia and excellently portrays those challenging times — most especially for women. For those not familiar with Victoria’s history and the many intertwining fur-trading families connected to the Hudson’s…
Read more 1141 Kate Work of Point Ellice
Astra by Cedar Bowers Toronto: Penguin Random House (McClelland & Stewart), 2021 $24.95 / 9780771012891 Reviewed by Brett Josef Grubisic * As a spectral visitor to western Canada in the 1970s, Karl Marx would have rolled his eyes at Celestial Farm. Or, more likely, he would have written an article denouncing it — barely a…
Read more 1138 Cariboo counterculture
The Memory Collectors by Kim Neville Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada (Atria Books), 2021 $23.00 / 9781982157586 Reviewed by Misao Dean * I am a bit of a packrat. I can’t resist flea market tables and antique stores crowded with “stuff.” Often the things that appeal to me are not particularly valuable – vintage bar…
Read more 1133 A museum for feelings
The Last Exiles by Ann Shin Toronto: HarperCollins (Park Row Books), 2021 $16.99 / 9780778312017 Reviewed by Theo Dombrowski * Stepping into the first few pages of Ann Shin’s The Last Exiles, some readers may feel they’ve entered the recognizable world of dystopian fiction. After all, this is a world “where women in skirt suits…
Read more 1130 A docudrama of defection
Hurry Home by Roz Nay Toronto: Simon and Schuster Canada, 2020 $24.99 / 9781501184826 Reviewed by Miranda Marini * Sisters are often described as having a transcendental and unbreakable bond based in their shared experiences, friendship, and love for each other. However, the same cannot be said for the Van Ness sisters in Roz Nay’s…
Read more 1129 A tale of two sisters
The Good Father by Wayne Grady Toronto: Penguin Random House (Doubleday Canada), 2021 $24.95 / 9780385694667 Reviewed by Ginny Ratsoy * Readers with a predilection for touching, even heartbreaking, plots served up with a good measure of satire and acerbic one-liners will be satiated by the latest from UBC professor Wayne Grady. Set in 2009-2010,…
Read more 1126 Retreat, rescue, repair
Greek Mythology: The Gods, Goddesses, and Heroes Handbook, From Aphrodite to Zeus, a Profile of Who’s Who in Greek Mythology by Liv Albert, illustrated by Sara Richard Toronto: Simon & Schuster (Adams Media), 2021 $22.99 / 9781507215494 Reviewed Linda Rogers * “He said, she said.” Oral storytelling is like court evidence without benefit of cell…
Read more 1125 Greek myths for the age of anime
Burning the Night by Glen Huser Edmonton: NeWest Press, 2021 $19.95 / 9781774390115 Reviewed by Brett Josef Grubisic * A novel with history on its mind, Burning the Night opens confidently as an attractive series of images and striking narrative portions: fictional Yarrow, Alberta in post-war Canada; an inquisitive, artistic youth residing in a house…
Read more 1123 Roots & effects of obsession
House of Crows by Edeana Malcolm Vancouver: Three Ocean Press, 2020 $24.95 / 9781988915265 Reviewed by Valerie Green * If you are a fan of British Columbia’s early history, especially pertaining to the capital city of Victoria, or if you simply love all history as a history buff, you will definitely enjoy House of Crows…
Read more 1118 The housemaid of Point Ellice
Universal Disorder by Bernice Friesen Calgary: Freehand Books, 2020 $22.95 / 9781988298559 Reviewed by Heather Graham * This is a novel about a boy’s journey to adulthood, a description that suggests it belongs in that category of narratives known as coming-of-age stories. But for Charlie Vicaryous, who has Asperger’s syndrome, his journey is more of…
Read more 1111 A mathematician’s progress