Quill and Quire

BOOK REVIEWS

The Long Run

By Leo Furey

You might expect a novel about a Catholic orphanage in St. John’s in 1960 to be a grim tale of religious bullying and physical and sexual abuse. The powerful first chapter in Brother McCann’s classroom, ... Read More »

March 24, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Holding

By Merilyn Simonds

In her first novel, Merilyn Simonds offers us fusty historical fiction with a fresh psychological twist and a poetic sensibility. The story alternates between the journey and travails of Margaret MacBayne, a Scottish emigrant who ... Read More »

March 24, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Eyehill

By Kelly Cooper

In a collection of short stories, creating a portrait of a community – almost as if it were a character itself – can be the whole point. In Kelly Cooper’s first book, all 17 stories ... Read More »

March 24, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

A Gradual Ruin

By Robert Hilles

The irony of Robert Hilles’ second novel is that the one thing it lacks is poetry – ironic because Hilles is also a Governor General’s Award-winning poet. The writing here is spare, unadorned, at times ... Read More »

March 24, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Iterations

By Robert J. Sawyer

A caveat to start: this new collection of short stories from Toronto writer Robert J. Sawyer isn’t new. Rather, it’s a reprint of a 2002 Quarry Press edition, published here under Sawyer’s own imprint with ... Read More »

March 24, 2004 | Filed under: Fiction: Short