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Eastword, Jan/Feb 2004imPRESSed!: The newest titles by WFNS members
Island of the Blessed With its pyramids, mummies and pharaohs, the Egyptian Nile has long been the Egypt of popular imagination. Yet, not far away in the Western Desert, where decades might pass between rains, and showers often evaporate before they hit the ground, lies the “other Egypt” where a story as old as the sands has lain hidden for millennia. Harry Thurston follows an international team of archeologists as they sift the Sahara to unlock the secrets of the “everlasting oasis,” Dakhleh, a tiny island of green that has been home to humans for nearly half a million years. Combining elements of adventure travelogue and scientific detective story, Island of the Blessed explores the fragile balance between an over-reaching humanity and its environment, and unveils an utterly fascinating chapter of human history. Harry Thurston
is among Canada’s premiere writers and journalists. The author
of twelve books, he has published feature articles for more than thirty
leading magazines, including Audubon, Equinox, and
National Geographic. His articles have garnered him six national
journalism awards. He lives in Amherst.
Susan Haley’s seventh novel tells a story of a community and the river that guides it. After 35 years away, Marina returns, three children in tow, to the southern Alberta reserve where she was born. What begins as an act of last resort soon becomes a search for an unresolved past in a story that spans fifty years and stretches from the cluster of houses on the Bitter Root reserve, into the neighbouring city and beyond. In her most accomplished work to date, Susan Haley maps a network of family and friends and provides surprising twists and pauses in a history of racial complexity. As in her previous novels, Haley shows a remarkable gift for grappling with unconventional and even taboo subjects, in a casual but pointed narrative style. Susan Haley’s first two novels, A Nest of
Singing Birds and Getting Married in Buffalo Jump were
made into movies for CBC-TV. Born in Nova Scotia, Haley taught philosophy
at the universities of Calgary and Saskatchewan, and spent several
years in Fort Norman, Northwest Territories, running a charter airline
with her partner. She currently lives with her family in Black River.
The Aging Cheerleaders’ Alphabet In The Aging Cheerleaders’ Alphabet, Jeanette Lynes has crafted a moving portrait of a woman whose humour and chutzpah challenge a world that sees her as a relic of another age. Part nostalgia, part cultural critique with respect to women’s experience of aging, Lynes’ Cheerleader does headsprings, walkovers and roundoffs over the very language that seeks to define her. “With nimble imagination and humour that is tough and vulnerable as the heart of country and western, Jeanette Lynes’ poems speak in their own sharply tanged and quite unignorable voice.” – Don McKay Jeanette Lynes is the author of three collections of poetry. She received the Bliss Carman Poetry Award in 2001, and her poems are frequently broadcast on CBC Radio. Jeanette teaches at St. Francis Xavier University and works as an associate editor at The Antigonish Review.
A three-act multicultural romance set in modern-day Quebec, Québecité tells the story of two interracial couples whose blossoming relationships expose the perils and possibilities of loving across racial and cultural lines. The book is an expanded, poetic rendering of a libretto George wrote at the request of the Guelph Jazz Festival, with music composed by Juno award-winning pianist D.D. Jackson. Québecité marks George’s 20th year in print. Born in Windsor, George Elliott Clarke won the Governor General Literary Award for poetry in 2001 for Execution Poems, published by Gaspereau Press. In 1998, he was the first recipient of the prestigious Portia White Prize. Clarke’s book, Whylah Falls (1990) was one of the five books selected in the inaugural year of CBC Radio’s “Canada Reads” program.He is currently lecturing at the University of Toronto.
Un étrange phénomène Qui diriez-vous de vous révellier un matin avec le pouvoir d’ecrire – sans faute! – rien qu’en parlant? C’est l’étrange experience que vit
un jour Éric, un jeune écolier. Mais, passé l’amusement
de la découverte, it se rend vite compte que son don n’a
pas que des avantages… Alain Raimbault est enseignant à l’école Rose-des-vents, dans la vallée d’Annapolis. Il aime écrire des poèmes, des nouvelles mais, aussi des romans pour les jeunes.
What are the chances of being hit by lightning three times in one lifetime? And then, being hit again after you are dead and buried? This is just one of the incredible legends in this fascinating collection. From ghosts lurking on board mystery ships to the dark and chilling secrets of Niagara’s devils’ playground, Canada’s history has never been so thrilling. "The book ... is reliable research, good history, and unique mystery - all rolled into one." Murray Stewart, The Daily Gleaner. "It's like peanuts. Once you start dipping into it, you can't stop." Val Ross, author of The Road to There: Mapmakers and their Stories. Johanna Bertin is a freelance writer who lives in Smithfield, New Brunswick. Long fascinated with the quirky and the different, her articles have appeared in magazines and newspapers across the country.
Riddle Me A Fish Riddle Me a Fish is a story of Mattie Peters, abandoned at birth in a church porch in Atterbury, Ontario, with only a fish pendant and an anonymous note. Her search for family leads her to Nova Scotia, where she works for Beth Oxner Real Estate in Calderford. By selling The Old Mill to Anna Waters, Mattie finds herself engulfed in a sea of myths, symbols and ancient beliefs that threaten her hard-won stability. In a stunning climax, Mattie confronts Anna at The Old Mill and at last solves the mystery of her birth. Joan K. Wallis was born and educated in England. After emigrating to Canada, Joan traveled and taught in Canadian schools. She now lives with her husband in Mahone Bay.
Frank MacDonald began writing humorous and satiric columns for The Inverness Oran in 1977. His work now appears regularly in the Cape Bretoner magazine, the Atlantic Cooperator, and Rural Delivery. How to Cook Your Cat features a selection of columns from publications throughout the Maritimes, between 1990 and 1999. A regular contributor to CBC Radio’s Information Morning, excerpts from Frank MacDonald’s fiction have been aired on CBC Radio and Radio Canada International. His columns and editorial work have received several awards from the Atlantic Community Newspaper Association. Frank lives in Inverness, Cape Breton.
Night Voices: Heard in the Shadow of Hitler
and Stalin Night Voices tells the little-known story of the Jewish idealists of Poland, Holocaust survivors who committed themselves to build a communist state in the belief that it would create a just society. Their hopes were shattered by the Stalinist paranoia and brutality of the post-war years, and by government-sponsored anti-Semitism. In 1968, the communist leadership, through a campaign of intimidation and harassment, set about expelling the remains of Poland’s Jewish population. Built on the interwoven memories of four people – their lives, loves, dreams, and despair – Night Voices is a testimony both to the strength of the human spirit and to our capacity for self-delusion. Heather Laskey, a freelance journalist, is the author of The Children of the Poor Clares: The Story of an Irish Orphanage. She lives in Halifax. |
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The
Murder of Medicine Bear
Québecité
Strange
Events: Incredible Canadian Monsters, Curses, Ghosts, and Other Tales
How
to Cook Your Cat: A Selection of Columns by Frank MacDonald