|
|
|
Dual citizens : a novel
by Alix Ohlin
"A masterful achievement: a joint coming-of-age story and an achingly poignant portrait of the strange, painful, ultimately life-sustaining bonds between sisters. Lark and Robin are half-sisters whose similarities end at being named for birds. While Larkis shy and studious, Robin is wild and artistic. Raised in Montreal by their disinterested single mother, they form a fierce team in childhood despite these differences. As they grow up, Lark excels at school and Robin becomes an extraordinary pianist. At seventeen, Lark flees to America to attend college, where she finds her calling in documentary films, and her sister soon joins her. Later, in New York City, the sisters find themselves tested: Lark struggles with self-doubt, and Robin chafes against the demands of Juilliard. Under pressure, their bond grows strained and ultimately broken, and their paths diverge.
In this gripping, unforgettable novel about motherhood, sisterhood, desire, and self-knowledge, Alix Ohlin traces the rich and complex path toward fulfillment as an artist and a human being, capturing the peculiar language of sisters, and making visible the imperceptible strings that bind us to the ones we love--or have loved--for good"
|
|
|
Divided Loyalties
by Nilofar Shidmehr
In her debut collection, Divided Loyalties, acclaimed poet Nilofar Shidmehr depicts the lives of Iranian women in post-revolutionary Iran and the contemporary diaspora in Canada -- the expectations imposed on them as mothers, daughters, sisters, and wives, and the struggle to shed their socially conditioned identities. The collection ranges from Tehran in 1978, when some affluent girls play a simple Cinderella game with unexpected consequences, foreshadowing the Iranian Revolution and its violent aftermath; to 1980s Iran, as women help their husbands and brothers survive war and political upheaval throughout the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution; to the 1990s in Vancouver, where an alcoholic single-mother refugee is harassed by the men she meets through a telephone dating platform; to the present day, following Iranian-Canadians who travel back to Iran on their own personal journeys. Shidmehr's style is at once straightforward and nuanced and the depth of her insight into familial and romantic relationships is undeniable. She has a striking clarity of vision and the poise of a poet who has been compared to Dionne Brand and Pablo Neruda. Divided Loyalties presents dynamic stories of Iranian and Iranian-Canadian lives in all their dignity, intimacy, and enduring complexity.
|
|
|
Son of Two Fathers
by Jacqueline Park
April, 1536. Danilo del Medigo arrives incognito in Venice from Istanbul, with two assassins from Suleiman the Magnificent’s court hot on his trail. Western civilization is in crisis. Jews and “New Christians” — people whose families had converted from Judaism — are threatened with expulsion, imprisonment, and death. Danilo seeks refuge in the Venetian Ghetto, and promptly falls in love with the beautiful Miriamne Hazan. But soon Danilo is blackmailed into becoming a spy for Venice, which means he must abandon Miriamne in order to save her. The only safe place for him is in plain sight, so he embeds himself with an itinerant group of actors travelling the Italian countryside. With assassins close behind and avalanches along his path, Danilo, together with a cast of libertines, courtesans, and fellow spies, witnesses the agony of the Renaissance: Protestants warring with Catholics, the Inquisition threatening everyone, and the Ottoman Empire poised to invade the heart of Europe. As fear and panic spread throughout the Jewish communities of Italy, a promise of a new lifeline emerges, and Danilo may be the only one who can ensure it. Will Danilo help rescue his fellow Jews, find his father, and be reunited with Miriamne Hazan? .
|
|
Focus on Authors from Prince Edward Island
|
|
|
The Stand-In
by David Helwig
"A retired academic is called to a remote university to speak as the replacement for an old friend recently deceased in unusual circumstances. The Stand-In is a transcript of these lectures, revealing a sophisticated tale of art, fame, and adultery that unfolds through rambling anecdotes and flashes of scholarly grandstanding. Fiercely funny and bitterly ironic, The Stand-In has been called the best academic doppelgänger story since Nabokov's Pale Fire."
|
|
|
The Last Wild Boy
by Hugh MacDonald
Nora lives in the walled city of Aahimsa, an idyllic community of girls and women working together to make a peaceful life free of the brutality of the outsiders. When she finds an outsider baby abandoned withint the city walls, Nora starts to question whether the outsiders pose as much of a threat to her civilization as she hasbeen taught.Book Annotation
|
|
|
Bed and Breakfast and Murder
by Patti Larsen
Fiona Fleming is in so much trouble. Her recently inherited bed and breakfast might not actually be hers thanks to the underhanded misdealings of the local real estate bully. Despite her grandmother's last will and testament, Fee might be out of luck and on the street before she even gets settled. But when her new enemy floats belly up in her koi pond, she's the prime suspect in his murder! Can she uncover who the real killer is before the smoking hot new sheriff puts her behind bars instead of asking her out on a date?
|
|
|
|
|
|