Quill and Quire

BOOK REVIEWS

Short Histories of Light

By Aidan Chafe

Aidan Chafe’s Short Histories of Light is a largely autobiographical debut that looks at trauma, addiction, religion, migration, and myth. A key preoccupation of this book is the institutions that shape our lives – whether ... Read More »

April 23, 2018 | Filed under: Poetry

The Honey Farm

By Harriet Alida Lye

Harriet Alida Lye’s debut novel begins with a swarm of bees. More specifically, it begins with a one-word command: “Listen.” This is appropriate, because over the course of The Honey Farm’s propulsive, occasionally frustrating narrative, ... Read More »

April 23, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Where’s Bob?

By Ann Ireland

Ann Ireland’s fifth novel might just confirm some Trump supporters’ worst suspicions about Mexicans: reading this novel, it would appear that they’re all thieves, drug dealers, and murderers living and operating in a land of ... Read More »

April 23, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

When We Were Birds

By Maria Mutch

The stories in Maria Mutch’s first collection explore, with varying degrees of success, intersections between the contemporary world and the dreamlike – sometimes nightmarish – tableaux of historical folk tales. A Canadian writer now based ... Read More »

April 23, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

That Tiny Life

By Erin Frances Fisher

Victoria-based author Erin Frances Fisher is a writer’s writer. With imagery that would make a poet jealous, characters rich enough to sustain entire novels, and dialogue that communicates a lot in few words, Fisher constructs ... Read More »

April 23, 2018 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

Unstable Neighbourhood Rabbit

By Mikko Harvey

Unstable Neighbourhood Rabbit is Brooklyn-based Mikko Harvey’s first collection of poems, but his curriculum vitae is already impressive: pieces in many distinguished magazines, grants from the usual places, and residencies at smart locations including the ... Read More »

April 23, 2018 | Filed under: Poetry

★ Sit How You Want

By Robin Richardson

Unstable Neighbourhood Rabbit is Brooklyn-based Mikko Harvey’s first collection of poems, but his curriculum vitae is already impressive: pieces in many distinguished magazines, grants from the usual places, and residencies at smart locations including the ... Read More »

April 23, 2018 | Filed under: Poetry