– By Sharon Hope –
The Long Way Home
Louise Penny
(Minotaur Books)
Inspector Armand Gamache now retired and living in Three Pines, is approached by Claire Morrow to find her husband Peter who has not come home after a year’s separation. The novel follows Armand, his former assistant Jean-Guy and Clara’s friend Myrna as they try to find Peter. Peter has set off on a journey of artistic and personal growth that ends in a remote community in northern Quebec.
The World Before Us
Aislinn Hunter
(Doubleday Canada)
Archivist Jane Standen was a teenager when five year old Lily, a child she was minding, disappeared in a wood. After a chance meeting with Lily’s father years later, Jane gives up her job and returns to the area of the disappearance. Jane’s main interest now is researching a woman called N who walked away from an asylum and disappeared in the same wood 125 years ago. The novel moves between the Victorian asylum and a neighboring estate Inglewood that Jane believes is connected to N’s disappearance.
All My Puny Sorrows
Miriam Toews
(Knopf Canada)
Yolandi copes with a series of heartrending and messy family crises interspersed with lighter moments. Her beloved concert pianist sister Elfrieda wants to die. That is the reality. After doing everything she can to resist it, Yolandi finally accepts Elfrieda’s decision and then aids in planning her sister’s suicide that involves traveling to another country.
The Back Of The Turtle
Thomas King
(HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
Gabriel Quinn was a scientist with Domidion but left the company when it contaminated a community called Smoke River, an event the residents call The Ruin. Gabriel arrives in Smoke River only to discover that almost everyone has left or died. Although Gabriel is leaning toward suicide owing to his part in the contamination, he gradually transforms as he becomes friends with three of the remaining residents in the town.
The Back Of The Turtle
Thomas King
(HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.)
Gabriel Quinn was a scientist with Domidion but left the company when it contaminated a community called Smoke River, an event the residents call The Ruin. Gabriel arrives in Smoke River only to discover that almost everyone has left or died. Although Gabriel is leaning toward suicide owing to his part in the contamination, he gradually transforms as he becomes friends with three of the remaining residents in the town.
You Are Here
Chris Hadfield
(Random House Canada)
Astronaut Chris Hadfield took these spectacular images of earth from space. They resemble abstract paintings; some of the landscapes look like animals, while others show different patterns of human use. Chris calls these differences in land use ‘human made art.’ He comments that some of the most damaged landscapes can also be some of the most beautiful.
Sweetland
Michael Crummey
(Doubleday Canada)
Moses Sweetland, a 69 year old Newfoundlander, is the only holdout to a lucrative government resettlement package designed to vacate Sweetland Island which has had no source of revenue since the collapse of the fishery. Moses finally signs on but manages to stay behind on the island after all the others have left, facing the challenge of lack of food and supplies.
