Quill and Quire

BOOK REVIEWS

Birds Art Life

By Kyo Maclear

Back in 2012, author Kyo Maclear was feeling untethered. Her father was becoming increasingly frail, having succumbed to two strokes and a couple of bad falls. Then an MRI revealed he had an unruptured cerebral ... Read More »

January 9, 2017 | Filed under: Memoir & Biography

A Horse Named Steve

By Kelly Collier

This bright, breezy picture-book debut by Toronto author-illustrator Kelly Collier marks the first time I have ever seen the myth of Narcissus reworked with a horse in the starring role. The eponymous equine, like Cephissus ... Read More »

January 9, 2017 | Filed under: Picture Books

Shot-Blue

By Jesse Ruddock

Tristan is always alone. Sure, there are people around him, names and voices that float in and out of Jesse Ruddock’s debut novel. These characters bounce questions and attempts at intimacy off of Tristan’s young, ... Read More »

January 9, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Chosen Maiden

By Eva Stachniak

Many works of fiction take as their inspiration true events and persons of historical significance, but few do so as lovingly and imaginatively as Eva Stachniak’s fifth novel. The Chosen Maiden is a fictionalized account ... Read More »

January 3, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

★ My Beautiful Birds

By Suzanne Del Rizzo

With the arrival of Syrian refugee families in many Canadian communities, parents and children alike are charged with trying to understand the harsh experiences these new classmates and neighbours have undergone. The compassionate and beautiful ... Read More »

January 3, 2017 | Filed under: Picture Books

Minds of Winter

By Ed O’Loughlin

When the wrecks of the expeditionary ships HMS Erebus and Terror, lost while searching for the Northwest Passage in the mid–19th century, were finally discovered (in 2014 and 2016, respectively), the events marked the final ... Read More »

January 3, 2017 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels