Boom Times for Manitoba Fiction
Saturday, Sep 08, 2012 at 5:29pmFall 2012 is a banner season for Manitoba fiction across all genres and forms.
Méira Cook, an award-winning poet, novelist and literary critic, taps her South African roots in her second novel, The House on Sugarbush Road. Set in post-apartheid Johannesburg shortly after the 1994 election of Nelson Mandela, The House on Sugarbush Road is the story of the intertwining lives of a once prominent liberal Afrikaner family and Beauty Mapule, their domestic servant of more than thirty years. Cook's intimately interconnected and finely drawn characters are white, black, rich, poor, beautiful, ugly, old and young; they are also hustlers, do-gooders, petty criminals and sensualists, heading towards dramatic explosions both inevitable and unexpected.
Winner of the 2011 McNally Robinson Manitoba Book of the Year Award for her first novel, This Hidden Thing, Dora Dueck returns with a collection of short stories, What You Get at Home, that offer comfort and understanding in the unlikeliest places. In The Rocking Chair a piece of furniture simultaneously divides a family and heals wounds. The narrator in the title story finds a sense of belonging and purpose in her favourite book. In Chopsticks a piano in a personal care home reminds a woman of the sense of wonder and admiration she had for her father as a child. With the power of memory, the characters in What You Get at Home find the strength to carry on when life is at its most challenging.
In his new novel, Henry's Game, David Elias reveals his particular craft for seamlessly grounding a narrative in the authentic and off-putting details in the lives of his characters, in this case, Henry and his troubled family. Elias takes a broad scope in this darkly humorous take on Henry, a chess columnist who finds himself under attack by realities he would rather not think about. An alcoholic friend has died and his wife has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. When Henry's family insists the situation calls for a road trip to Disneyland, he must learn to adapt or perish in life beyond the chess board. David Elias is the author of four previous books of fiction, and his work has appeared in literary magazines and anthologies across the country.
Faith Johnston's debut novel, The Only Man in the World, is an understated story of what it means to live a life of integrity and grace amid the changing fortunes of love. Heather York is trying to find a balance in her life. Sure, her son Jeff is every parent's dream, but Winn, headstrong and independent, makes being a single mom a struggle. When a guilty conscience calls Heather to the side of her dying uncle, wheels are set in motion that will change her life forever. Johnston won the 2007 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award for her book on the life of Dorise Nielsen, A Great Restlessness.
| Categories: buzz, Saskatoon, Winnipeg |
See:
What You Get at Home
- Dora Dueck 
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$19.00
Reader Reward Price: $17.10
Full of longing and melancholy, the stories in What You Get at Home find comfort and understanding in the unlikeliest of places. In "The Rocking Chair" a piece of furniture simultaneously divides a family and heals old wounds. The narrator in the title story finds a sense of belonging and purpose in a small pool of light and her favourite book. In "Chopsticks," a piano in a personal care home reminds a woman of the wonder and admiration she had for her father as a child. With the power of memory, the characters that inhabit What You Get at Home find the strength to carry on when life is at its most challenging. The second oldest of a family of eight children, Dora Dueck grew up in a Mennonite community in Alberta. An editor, writer and historian, Dora has published two previous novels, Under the Still Standing Sun (1989) and This Hidden Thing (2010) for which she won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. What You Get at Home is Dora's first collection of stories. She currently lives and writes in Winnipeg.
Henry's Game
- David Elias
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$15.95
Reader Reward Price: $14.36
With the elements of a 'road story' this novella by David Elias reveals his particular craft for seamlessly grounding a compelling narrative in the authentic and off-putting details in lives of his characters, in this case, Henry and his troubled family. Elias takes on a broad scope in this darkly humorous take on Henry, a chess columnist who finds himself under attack by realities he would rather not think about. An alcoholic friend has died and his wife has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. When Henry's family insists the situation calls for a road trip to Disneyland, he must learn adapt or parish in life beyond the chess board.
The Only Man in the World
- Faith Johnston
Trade paperback
$19.00
Reader Reward Price: $17.10
Heather York is trying to find balance in her life. Sure, her son Jeff is every parent’s dream, but Winn, headstrong and independent, makes being a single mom a real struggle. When a guilty conscience calls Heather to the side of her dying uncle, wheels are set in motion that will change her life forever. Meeting Les in a campground while returning from her uncle’s funeral, Heather discovers that sometimes happiness finds you when you’re least expecting it. The Only Man in the World is an understated story of what it means to be a woman and how to live a life of integrity and grace amid the changing fortunes of love. Originally from Shoal Lake, Manitoba, Faith Johnston is a Winnipeg writer and former Ottawa teacher. Her work has been published in Dropped Threads 2, The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, Other Voices, and A Room of One’s Own. Her first book, A Great Restlessness looked at the life of Dorise Nielsen and was received with much acclaim. The Last Man in the World is her first novel.
