In Orwell’s classic novel 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith has a brief relationship with Julia Worthing and then betrays her. Ms. Newman now provides an imaginative insight into Julia’s story. The iconic dystopia of Oceania is revealed but with twists, a unique female perspective that is both haunting and provocative.
Category: Female author
Behind You – Catherine Hernandez
Another riveting novel (her third) by Ms. Hernandez. Alma is a film editor for a True Crime series. An assignment to edit video information about the Scarborough Stalker triggers flashbacks to when Alma was a child, a 10-14-year-old, when her community was terrorized. Although female resilience is a worthy outcome, the ugly face of misogyny, romantic power struggles and generalized complicity in rape culture produces a gritty and disturbing story.
Beautyland – Marie-Helene Bertino
Adina is an extra-terrestrial sent to earth to a single mother in Philadelphia; she is “born” in 1977, simultaneously with the launch of the Voyager-1 spacecraft. Her role is to observe and report on human behaviour, using a fax machine (!) to communicate with the extra-terrestrials. Her communications are both wistful and insightful, for someone in exile at home. Adina’s life is endlessly surprising – highly recommended, thanks Amy.
Runaway- Alice Munro
The recent death of Ms. Munro prompted me to (re)read this amazing book, consisting of 8 single-word-titled stories. Her literary gift is to write about everyday people ( mostly women) in both common and extraordinary circumstances. There is an unparalleled purity of language – she a national treasure.
The Observer – Marina Endicott
Full disclosure: this is a great book that deals frankly with some unpleasant subjects. Julia accompanies her partner Hardy to his first RCMP posting in Northern Alberta. Julia is a keen observer of life, especially relationships. She is also a silent witness to Hardy’s descent into depression and PTSD. There is a strong element of fear and menace that is truly frightening. Powerful writing and very worthwhile.
The Paris Bookseller – Kerri Maher
The cover of this book of historical fiction/fact has the phrase: “a love letter to bookstores and libraries” – enough said! This is the story of Sylvia Beach, an American who opens an English language bookstore in Paris in 1920, called Shakespeare And Company. Ms. Beach acquires fame and notoriety by publishing James Joyce’s Ulysses in 1922. Insight into her motivations and candid descriptions of the many writers who frequent her store makes this a treasure to read.
The Girl In His Shadow – Audrey Blake
Nora is a young woman in 1845, a cholera survivor. As the ward of the talented and eccentric Victorian surgeon Dr. Horace Croft, Nora acquires forbidden medical knowledge. But despite her impressive abilities and skills, she will be both persecuted and prosecuted if she is caught practicing medicine. Much like Fayne, the treatment of women at this time is abysmal. Thanks Elliott, for this recommendation.
Snow Road Station – Elizabeth Hay
Predictably, Ms. Hay has written another superb short novel. There are many relationships in a coming-of-middle-age story: intense complicated friendships abound. On page 214: “They were lovers the way some people are Sunday painters – not fulltime, not exclusively, but companionably and gratefully”. And there is an exquisite description of place; Snow Road Station is a barely discernable dot in an Ontario map, but there are wonderful descriptions of the changing seasons, a wedding, and harvesting sap. In short, tour-de-force writing.
Bad Cree – Jessica Johns
This remarkable debut novel is all about Indigenous women. Mackenzie is a young Cree woman living in Vancouver, but darkness dreams drive her to return to her home on High Prairie, Alberta, in part to confront her unprocessed grief over the death of her older sister. Can spirits visit people in their dreams? Can evil entities feed off the hurt, isolated and grieving? This is both a masterful mystery and horror story that will forever change your appreciation of the phrase “murder of crows”. Highly recommended.
What David Read 