MARCH:- Canadian Author

 

Rosemary: A Better Man by Louise Penny 

Louise Penny is a very successful Canadian author of mystery novels set in the province of Quebec and centered on the work of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache, head of the homicide squad. There are now 19 books in the series, the most recent published in 2022.

A Better Man is book number 15. Gamache is returning to work albeit having been demoted, after a previous serious incident, but finds that his son-in-law is now his ‘boss’

Catastrophic spring flooding, blistering attacks in the media and a mysterious disappearance of a young pregnant woman greet him on his return.

While there are continuing characters from previous books in the series, but as a first-time reader you are given enough insight into their lives in the town of Three Pines to feel comfortable and understand their quirks and characteristics.

Rosemary enjoyed the murder investigation and all the other little side stories of the various characters in the village.

 

Connie: Louise Penny: The Nature of the Beast  (2015)

The novel is number 11 in the series and revolves around a young boy Laurent, who is known to tell lies and exaggerate about what he has seen in the woods. He tries to explain that while riding in the forest he found a huge gun with a monster on it. No-one believes him, until 3 days later when he is found dead, maybe murdered, on the side of the road. Inspector Gamache leads the investigation.

Connie found the writing very confusing, many characters and details in the plot. She also found the story slow to eventuate.

 

Bev: The Cruellest Month by Louise Penny

This is the third book in the series. In this village of eccentric characters, a woman dies at a séance in the creepy, deserted mansion on the hill and the death is a murder. All the attendees are from the village except the woman who led the séance, so the murderer is among them. Inspector Gamache leads the investigation while also battling with other police trying to bring him down.

Bev found it hard to follow with the French names and the slow build up waiting for something to  happen. She admitted she probably wouldn’t read another by the author.

 

Lesley: The Hangman by Louise Penny

This book is also set in Three Pines, and the investigation led by the wise and worldly Inspector Gamache. A jogger finds  the body of a well-dressed man hanging from a tree. It looks like suicide, but things don’t add up. Inspector Gamache solves the mystery.

This is a stand-alone novella written as part of Goodreads Canada, a literacy programme aimed at adults who are ‘emerging readers’. The plot is there, all the lies, and the same characters but the writing is not as complex as her usual novels.

 

Judy: The Unfinished Child by Theresa Shea

Although born in the USA, the author has lived most of her life in Montreal, Canada.

The title are the words that were used to describe Down Syndrome children in the 1940s and the book looks at how attitudes to these children have changed.

In the 1947, Margaret gives birth to a Down Syndrome child. She and her husband are pressured into sending her to a government institution where she is all but forgotten by the family.

In the present times, Elizabeth and Marie have been friends since childhood.

Elizabeth has never been able to conceive despite years of fertility treatment. Marie already a mother of 2, finds herself unexpectedly pregnant at thirty-nine and feeling very guilty regarding her best friend.

Marie’s dilemma is further complicated when she becomes convinced that something is wrong with her baby. Tests are available now to screen for all sorts of conditions. The results could mean that she and her husband have a very difficult decision to make.

There’s an unexpected twist at the end, which then ties elements of the women’s stories together.

At times, a very difficult book to read, but a valuable overview of the changing attitudes and treatment of these children.

 

Kris: What Strange Paradise by Omar El Akkad

The author, although born in Egypt, raised in Qatar, eventually moved with his family to Canada.

A rickety boat, carrying too many refugees sinks before the migrants can reach a small Greek island. The bodies wash up on the beach and only a nine-year-old boy survives.

He manages to escape into the forest where a teenage girl helps him escape.

Kris really enjoyed the book. Although it is set in alternating chapters “Before” and “After” she thought it still flowed very well.

The sea-voyage of these desperate people was engrossing and raw. Those on the boat are risking everything for a better life, while the people who run these boats care little for their welfare.

 

Pamela: Fifteen Dogs written by Andre Alexis (2015)

These 15 dogs can suddenly talk given human intelligence and consciousness by the gods  Apollo and Hermes. They watch on to see what will happen. The dogs  are a mixture of breeds and sexes. As the pack evolves, they turn on each other as they struggle for power.

By page 29, only 9 dogs were still alive. Following a particularly horrific killing, Pamela stopped reading!

 

Sheila: American War by Omar El Akkad (2015)

The novel is set in the near future in the USA in a country ravaged by climate change and disease at plague proportions. A Second Civil War has broken out over the use of fossil fuels and families are forced to relocate.

Sheila thought that it was very well written, but couldn’t cope with the subject matter, so didn’t finish the book.

 

Judy De la T:  The Lightkeeper’s Daughters by Jean E  Pendziwol

Judy loved this book and couldn’t put it down.

Elizabeth, living in a nursing home, is elderly, her eyesight is failing but her mind is still sharp.

Morgan, a delinquent teen meets Elizabeth because of her rebellious behaviour. She begins to read to Elizabeth from old journals, recently found in a wrecked ship, and written by her father. Mr Livingstone was the lightkeeper for the Porphyry Light Station and it is here that the family lived, loved, worked and kept secrets for so many years.

As each journal entry is read, more is revealed about Elizabeth and her twin sister Emily. As Elizabeth learns more about Morgan an unexpected twist is revealed.

The stories were riveting. Such a beautiful book.

 

Jo: Alone in the Wild: A Rockton Novel by Kelley Armstrong 

This is the author’s fifth book in this series of fantasy stories set in the small town of Rockton in the Yukon. It is an off-grid sanctuary looking for those who want to disappear.

A young holidaying detective hears a baby crying in the woods. On investigation she finds a woman shot dead in the snow. Clutched to her chest is a newborn, dehydrated but alive.

Although minors are not allowed in Rockton, a couple agree to look after the baby.

Investigation proves that the dead woman is not the baby’s mother which complicates the investigation.

Jo thought it was a good read.

 

Joan: The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence (1964)

This book is one of the author’s best-known novels. It is narrated by 90-year-old fiercely proud Hagar Shipely who reflects/alternates between past and present recollections of her life. Well written but dismal.

 

    All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews (2015)

The novel is based on a vey difficult relationship between 2 sisters. One is a talented concert pianist suffering from deep depression who only wants to suicide, and her sister trying to constantly save her. Depressing.

 

    A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (1997)

This fictional book is mainly centred in the streets of Bombay in the mid 1970s, a time of trouble with State Emergencies and the era of Indira Ghandi.

Centred around 4 unlikely characters, 2 tailors, a student and a widowed, beautiful woman, and their everyday reality of balancing hope and despair.

This could be a very depressing novel if not for the humour and compassion the author brings to every chapter. Brilliant book, even though 600 pages.

 

Julia: Washington Black by Esi Edugyan

George Washington is an 11-year-old field slave on a Barbados sugar plantation. He is terrified when he is chosen as the manservant of his master’s brother.  However Christopher Wilde turns out to be a naturalist, explorer, inventor and abolitionist. Even though they come from different worlds, a mutual respect develops between them.

This all changed when a man is killed, and a bounty is placed on Washington’s head and they flee together.

 

Val: Warlight by Michael Ondaatjie

During World War 2, London was in a black out during the Blitz. 

Nathaniel is now 28 years old, living Suffolk with his greyhound. He remembers back to life in London after the war. His parents moved to Singapore leaving Nathaniel and his sister, at boarding school, but in the care of a family friend. They suspected he may have been a criminal as too some of his eccentric friends.

Later he finds his mother’s trunk and learns more about her mysterious life.

Val thought it a very unusual book, and really enjoyed his style of writing.

 

Rosemary W: Anil’s Ghost by Michael Ondaatjie

The novel’s protagonist is a forensic pathologist who returns to Sri Lanka after 15 years away. She has come home to identify people missing after the civil war. The author writes about the times and the horrors of war.

There is one skeleton that the story revolves around and its eventual identity .

Rosemary said it was not an easy read, but an amazing book. She couldn’t speak highly enough of it. Although not a page turner, you need to take time to ponder the writing. One of the difficulties she found was the Sri Lankan people’s and place names.

 

Judy A: The Break by Katherine Vermette

The story is set among the Métsi community in the suburb of North End in Winnipeg. The Métsi are one of the 3 major Indigenous peoples recognised by the Canadian Constitution.

The Break gets its name from a stretch of land between two rows of houses outside of the home of Stella, a young Métsi mother. She is witness to a violent assault that occurs late one night on The Break.

The narrative shifts constantly between people who are connected directly and indirectly with the 13year old victim.

Judy said she warmed to the intergenerational interconnections between the extended Métsi

family of the victim, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the depressive aspects of lives centred on crime and drug taking which left her with a feeling of ambivalence about this book.

The writing was beautiful but the story was depressing.