Amaryllis

The casual observer might swear that there isn’t much to distinguish between the romance novel and the soap opera. Both, after all, are about the many and various vicissitudes of love. But the major difference ... Read More »

March 16, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Rebel and the Redcoat

By Karyn Monk

First, Karyn Monk took on the French Revolution; now she’s tackled the American one. It’s a three-book deal – could Russia be next?No matter – in the meantime, her fans can lose themselves in the ... Read More »

March 16, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Splendour Falls

By Susanna Kearsley

Two years ago, Susanna Kearsley won England’s $20,000 Catherine Cookson Fiction Prize for her romance novel, Mariana. Kearsley was 28, living in Port Elgin, Ontario and waiting tables in a local restaurant. She still lives ... Read More »

March 16, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Sam and Angie

By Margaret Sweatman

Sam and Angie is all about alienation – about living on the surface of events. It’s also about the inner world of a marriage that is unravelling. The mood of the book is disturbing and ... Read More »

March 16, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Murder at the Movies

By A.E. Eddenden

Inspector Albert V. Tretheway stands out from the growing crowd of made-in-Canada mystery series sleuths. At 6'5" and 290-plus pounds, the 39-year-old transplanted Brit is too big to miss, for one thing. But it’s a ... Read More »

March 16, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Beaming Sonny Home

By Cathie Pelletier

New Englanders, I’ve found in living among them, are not the most garrulous breed of American. And as one native-born woman informed me recently, speech is considered downright ostentatious in the state of Maine.How, then, ... Read More »

March 16, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Broken Windows

By Patricia Nolan

When I think of successful literary portrayals of devastated lives, I think of Raymond Carver, Dorothy Allison, Greg Hollingshead. After reading Broken Windows, I will also think of Kanata, Ontario writer Patricia Nolan.Broken Windows is ... Read More »

March 16, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Shockwave Rider

By John Brunner

“In this age of unprecedented information flow, people are haunted by the belief that they are actually ignorant. The stock excuse is that this is because there is literally too much to be known.” – ... Read More »

March 14, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels