Alistair MacLeod’s “The Closing Down of Summer” (1976)

2021-08-20T12:40:12-04:00

“It is August now, towards the end, and the weather can no longer be trusted.” The gentle rhythm in MacLeod’s sentence is responsible for its being a favourite of mine. Such an ordinary opening to such a startlingly subversive –and topical—story. With the findings of the IPCC report and

Alistair MacLeod’s “The Closing Down of Summer” (1976)2021-08-20T12:40:12-04:00

Mazo de la Roche’s Whiteoak Harvest (1936)

2018-07-31T13:46:21-04:00

“I dare say old Red-head will be delighted. If there is one thing above another that pleases him it is an addition to the clan.” That’s Renny and, it’s true, his heart beats for Jalna, which is where the Whiteoaks are. But he has standards. He’s not about the

Mazo de la Roche’s Whiteoak Harvest (1936)2018-07-31T13:46:21-04:00

Mazo de la Roche’s Master of Jalna (1933)

2018-07-27T13:34:43-04:00

Although following Finch’s Fortune directly, the fortune only recently received and dispensed, Master of Jalna was actually published more than twenty years before Finch’s Fortune. It’s easy to imagine why the author would have wanted to revisit the Whiteoaks before the events of Master of Jalna play out, to

Mazo de la Roche’s Master of Jalna (1933)2018-07-27T13:34:43-04:00

Margaret Millar’s Wives and Lovers (1954; 2016)

2017-07-24T15:00:28-04:00

Readers familiar with Margaret Millar's suspense novels, will immediately recognize her style and language in Wives and Lovers. (Just yesterday I discussed Vanish in an Instant, another volume in the Syndicate reprint series.) "It was a shoebox of a room, with the ceiling pressed down on it like a lid, and

Margaret Millar’s Wives and Lovers (1954; 2016)2017-07-24T15:00:28-04:00
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