Quill and Quire

Fiction: Novels

St. Stephen’s

By Sky Gilbert

Readers may not like this book, some for its disturbing content – especially its evangelical support of pederasty – others for its hectoring tone, but there is pleasure to discover if you’ve the stomach for ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Cue the Dead Guy

By H. Mel Malton

Cue the Dead Guy is the second mystery featuring Polly Deacon, the underemployed puppet maker and born-again rural-dweller who lives in the fictional Ontario cottage country of Kuskawa. H. Mel Malton’s first Polly Deacon mystery, ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Watermelon Row

By Michael Holmes

The great novels of the gutter (think Henry Miller’s Tropic of Cancer, Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, and Kerouac’s Subterraneans) share the following characteristic: their narratives move from despair to hope, from fallen state to redemption. If ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

One-eyed Jacks

By Brad Smith

Toronto in 1958 is the setting for this fast-paced quest novel. Tommy Cochrane is a washed-up boxer with an aneurysm that prevents him from ever fighting again. When Tommy returns to Ontario, he finds out ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ Heroes

By Ray Robertson

Set against the backdrop of American minor hockey and suburban Toronto, Ray Robertson’s second novel, Heroes, is a pleasurable read, even for the non-sports fan. Peter Bayle is an Etobicoke-born philosophy grad student who, in ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Touched

By Jodi Lundgren

Jodi Lundgren’s debut novel is the story of a slow motion freak-out, a young woman’s flailing descent into mental illness. It’s a powerful, even painful read – not only because of Lundgren’s skill at conveying ... Read More »

February 23, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels