Jessica Westhead & Cara Hedley (Reading & Signing)
Thursday Nov 08 2007 7:00 pm, Calgary
Join McNally Robinson to celebrate the release of two new exciting titles from the Couch House Books fall catalog!
In Pulpy & Midge by , Brian Lembeck – ‘Pulpy’ – takes life slow and steady. He likes his office job, and he likes his gentle, figurine-collecting boss, Al. He even likes the bitter receptionist, though he’s the only one who does. He likes his wife, Midge, too, and their ice-dancing lessons. Midge works as a candle-party hostess – she quit her office job when Al’s dog ate her pet pigeon and Al promised Pulpy a promotion.But when Al retires and the tyrannical Dan takes over, the promotion vanishes. And then Dan’s oversexed wife, Beatrice, takes a shine to Pulpy, and Dan starts to think Midge is one hot tamale. Soon, the receptionist is smitten with Pulpy, Midge can’t get rid of Dan and Beatrice, and Pulpy’s job is in jeopardy. For once, Pulpy just might have to take a stand.
‘A hilariously deadpan, wincingly funny take on one office innocent’s workplace coming-of-age. Brian “Pulpy” Lembeck is the new hero of the keyboard-and-cubicle set.’ – Lynn Coady, author of Mean Boy
In Twenty Miles by The Scarlets are hard-hitting, tough-talking hockey players. There’s brash Toad, confident and witty, and there’s troubled Hal, unofficial team captain, whose mother is terminally ill. There’s French Pelly and there’s hilarious Heezer, who waitresses at Hooters to pay the rent. And then there’s Iz.
Iz has a long, fraught relationship with her sport. Her dad, who died before she was born, was a hockey star, and her grandparents have shaped her life around this game that is supposed to be her destiny. But when she leaves her grandmother behind for the university team, she can’t quite find her own place in the game.
From the rowdy hilarity of the Scarlets’ locker room to quiet, lyrical contemplations – and with a little beer-bonging and a lot of hockey along the way – Iz tries to navigate the ways loss plays out on the ice. Both fast-paced and hesitant, Twenty Miles celebrates women’s hockey and offers an uncompromising look at the ways in which the sport haunts the women who play it.
See:
Pulpy and Midge
- Jessica Westhead 
Trade paperback
$19.95
Reader Reward Price: $17.96
Brian Lembeck - 'Pulpy' - takes life slow and steady. He likes his office job, and he likes his gentle, figurine-collecting boss, Al. He even likes the bitter receptionist, though he's the only one who does. He likes his wife, Midge, too, and their ice-dancing lessons. Midge works as a candle-party hostess - she quit her office job when Al's dog ate her pet pigeon and Al promised Pulpy a promotion.
But when Al retires and the tyrannical Dan takes over, the promotion vanishes. And then Dan's oversexed wife, Beatrice, takes a shine to Pulpy, and Dan starts to think Midge is one hot tamale. Soon, the receptionist is smitten with Pulpy, Midge can't get rid of Dan and Beatrice, and Pulpy's job is in jeopardy. For once, Pulpy just might have to take a stand.
'A hilariously deadpan, wincingly funny take on one office innocent's workplace coming-of-age. Brian "Pulpy" Lembeck is the new hero of thekeyboard-and-cubicle set.'
- Lynn Coady, author of Mean Boy
Twenty Miles
- Cara Hedley
Trade paperback
$19.95
Reader Reward Price: $17.96
Isabel Norris has never left the ice. Her father was a hockey legend who died before she was born, and her grandparents have raised her in his skates.
When Iz leaves her grandmother behind to play for the Winnipeg University Scarlets, she struggles to fit in on this team of hard-hitting, tough-talking women with a penchant for buffets, beer bongs and raunchy humour - and a fierce loyalty to one another and to their sport. But in their raucousmidst, Iz can't quite find her own place in the game.
As she moves between the rowdy hilarity of the Scarlets' dressing room and quiet, lyrical contemplations, Iz tries to navigate the ways loss plays out on the ice. Based largely on author Cara Hedley's three seasons on the University of Manitoba Bison, Twenty Miles celebrates women's hockey and offers an uncompromising look at the ways in which the sport both haunts and redeems the women who play it.
'[A] work of literary fiction that is surprisingly touching, honest, engaging and unusual - both in terms of its subject matter and perspective ... Hedley stickhandles her way around Iz's conundrum with beautiful agility, using deftly lyrical prose and insight to describe the rough and tumble of a hard-hitting game and the harsh realities of life.'
- Winnipeg Free Press
