The word 'goodish' entered my vocabulary thanks to an observation that Carol Shields makes of two female friends in The Republic of Love. (General increased usage of -ish also ensued.) "They love the word ‘goodish,’ as in goodish sunsets, goodish travel bargains, goodish men." The title and cover of Suzanne Sutherland's When
At twenty-eight years old, Priscila Uppal meets her mother in Brazil, twenty years after her mother has abandoned daughter-son-husband. Two decades later, their relationship is a complicated one between near-strangers. They spend twelve days together and the experience is shared in Projection within a framework of movie titles. This organizing
At first glance, readers might not spot similarities between J. C. Carleson's The Tyrant's Daughter (2014) and Gabrielle Prendergast's Audacious (2013). Knopf - Random House, 2014 Laila, the 15-year-old daughter of an assassinated dictator, flees to North America with the aid of authorities who recognize the family's vulnerability
In "Save the Reaper" and "The Children Stay" readers are directed to wonder what young children remember of their parents' shenanigans, but in this story readers inhabit Karin's perspective. Karin is certainly old enough to actively observe and contemplate the events unfolding around her (although from a girl's perspective, so
This year's Massey Lecture text begins with passion and grandiose declarations. "I have had a lifelong obsession with blood, and I'm not the only one. As both substance and symbol, blood reveals us, divides us, and unites us. We care about blood, because it spills literally and figuratively into every
