Weeks after reading these stories, a glance at the table of contents brings back their characters and arcs in a moment. (With "Flower Watching" and "Eskimos" I also required the aid of the characters' names I'd noted.) These stories stood out, not only as independent narratives but, simultaneously, for the
My grandmother attended All Saints Church. Although I was not a devout child, I have many happy memories surrounding that small brick building: bazaars and bake sales, pancake suppers and holiday lunches. Biblioasis, 2014 None of my happy memories reside in the pews or at the altar, however; they are
Sarah Ellis' Outside In is her seventeenth novel for young readers, and readers who discover her through this unusual work will undoubtedly be keen to investigate her backlist. Groundwood Books, 2014 The cover captures the hint of mystery which lurks beneath the story, for Lynn encounters Blossom and
Angie Adbou handles multiple narrative voices very well. Readers familiar with her earlier novels, The Bone Cage (2008) and The Canterbury Trail (2011) will know this, having inhabited narratives from varying perspectives. They will also know (as will readers of her 2006 collection of short stories, Anything Boys Can Do) that
As much as these stories focus on solitary characters who observe, from the margins, they long for something else; Walt and Mr. Jones are ultimately preoccupied with relationships. Goose Lane Editions, 2014 Margaret Sweatman's Mr. Jones openly confronts duplicity. "His life had been contrary, a series of duplications: two homes; a father who’d
