The Tenants by Pat Dobie is a delight. Gosh, I have had such a string of mediocre reads that I was worried. But this little novel is charming and gritty. The Tenants is the winner of the 45th annual 3-day novel contest. The writing is tight and evocative, just like the Vancouver housing situation. Ok, maybe that sounds dull. But no! The Tenants is about three Vancouverites. Dave and Scott are partners who live in a rental off Victoria drive. Maeve is a homeless woman who is tenting near the blackberry bushes in an unattended/undeveloped area nearby. Happenstance brings the three of them together. And I think what’s so delightful is that you learn just enough about each characters in the same way you might if you too randomly met a neighbour over a few intersecting errands.
Writing a novel in three days requires an economy of language, and that perfectly suits the character of overly frugal Scott. It also suits Maeve, whose survival is too limit how much she says to anybody. Dave is perhaps the most hospitable in that he interacts with Maeve, welcomes her into the secret garden he’s developing on city land, but he too is holding back. So the writing style, the time constraints of the contest, and the constraints of living in an overly expensive city make this weirdly funny story a page turner. Maybe you have to live here to get it, but the story struck a chord for me.
First published in 1998, Kiss of the Fur Queen opens like a Greek tragedy. We are introduced to the Okimasis family through the caribou-hunter father, Abraham Okimasis, who is striving to win a dog-sled race, which seals upon himself and his family the kiss of the crowned Fur Queen.
Abraham names his next-born child Champion. And early on, Champion is a gifted musician. The next boy, Ooneemeetoo, is a gift dancer. The two boys, born in northern Manitoba, move through their world, hunting caribou with their parents and making music and dances for their family. These are well-loved boys.
When Champion is taken to residential school, he is excited to fly in the small airplane, but sad to leave his little brother. At school his hair is shaved, he is forbidden to speak Cree, and he is renamed Jeremiah. Jeremiah’s only highlight is discovering a piano and convincing the head priest to allow a nun to teach him.
Two years later his little brother joins him at school and is renamed Gabriel. Gabriel is an angel. His face is described as being so lovely that your heart aches; and of course he becomes prey to the priest.
The first part of the novel has so many Greek elements, in particular the repeating and spinning of the tale of the Fur Queen. In Greek tragedy, Athena—the bright eyed goddess—is described as the goddess of wisdom, craft, and battle. The Fur Queen appears many times in the story in different guises—perhaps meant to be a Trickster—but I think the Fur Queen is more like Athena.
More clear is that Greek tragedy deals with big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. Kiss of the Fur Queen goes deep with these themes too.
The love between the brothers, loss of connection to family and culture, pride of personal artistic achievements, the abuse of power by members of the Catholic Church, and the fraught relationship both brothers have with god/God.
Residential school takes the boys away from their community and inserts them into melting pot of Cree children taken from across the North, who are then given new names, language, and religion. The boys are abused by the priests and this emotionally distances them from their Catholic-convert parents. As they grow up and move to the city to pursue their artistic gifts, they are away from the priests but not from the hostilities and limiting beliefs of colonialism. The triumph is that Jeremiah and Gabriel break expectations. Jeremiah becomes a concert pianist and playwright. Gabriel becomes a professional ballet dancer.
Kiss of the Fur Queen is a beautifully written novel of heartbreak and truth, told at a high cost. The mix of Cree words and mythology creates a sense of musicality that weaves through the story and echoes the life of the author.
Tomson Highway, like Jeremiah, is a playwright and musician. His brother Rene was an accomplished dancer and choreographer, who died too young. Their father was a caribou hunter. I do not know if the novel is autobiographical, but it draws on certain elements of their lives and reflects many of the traumas Indigenous children experienced.
The Grey Wolf is the 19th instalment of the Inspector Gamache series and readers are once again invited into the charming world of Three Pines. This time, our beloved Chief Inspector finds himself drawn into a perilous investigation where the enemies and allies are not clearly defined.
The story kicks off with a young man who breaks into the Gamache’s Montreal pied a terre. He takes a coat, yet returns it and asks to meet. Bizarre. More chilling is that the young man is run over in broad daylight while standing outside of a cafe with Gamache. He hasn’t provided any insights into who compelled him to break in, and Gamache isn’t even sure that the young man provided his real name; Charles. But obviously there is something worth investigating when the driver of the van is discovered dead.
Like all Gamache novels, Louise Penny delivers an intricately woven narrative that takes us to an isolated monastery in the Quebec wilderness, to the far reaches of the Atlantic coast, and all the way to Washington, Paris and Rome. Many secondary characters from previous novels make their appearance again. And this time the crime seems to be related to water security, but there are very few details for Gamache to work with and it looks more and more like an insight job or coverup by the RCMP and federal government.
The heart of The Grey Wolf lies in Gamache’s enduring humanity. Despite the dangers and moral quandaries, he remains the steadfast leader of his team and upholds his integrity. There is no easy route for Gamache.
Unlike previous novels, there is very little action that happens in Three Pines and I missed the comings and goings of Clare, Gabri, Olivier and Ruth, but Penny deepens the arc of characters we have met briefly before in previous novels, which keeps the richness of the story and broadens our knowledge of others in Gamache’s orbit.
Fans of the Gamache series will enjoy this must-read continuation of the story. If you’re brand new and enjoy shows like the Shetland drama series and DI Jimmy Perez, then you’ll like Gamache, who like Perez is a native to the land he serves and works together with a small group of trusted colleagues to solve crimes that often go beyond the close-knit communities being protected.
A Meditation on Murder is the second book featuring Buddhist nun turned butler Helen Thorpe. Helen is happily working for the philanthropic Levine family when she is unexpectedly lent to friend-of-the-family Cartier Hightower. Wait, can that happen? It was NOT a scenario covered in butler school.
Cartier is an online influencer who is addicted to social media, is experiencing extreme online bullying, and is too selfish and pampered to sort herself out. The Levines are hoping that Helen can help Cartier get her act together so she is prepared to make good choices when she inherits her father’s vast fortune.
It’s a tall order.
Cartier is highly influenced by her content creation group The Deep State. None of her fellow creators treat her as a friend, but she’s the money bags so her inclusion in the group seems set. The group’s attitude to Cartier is dismissive, in fact someone is the group seems to be setting her up to be the focus of their audience’s hate. Every accident or insensitive move by the group is blamed on Cartier. But more alarming is that one by one, they are dying unexpectedly.
Can Helen’s meditation practice bring Cartier back to the down-to-earth kid she once was? Can Helen’s extremely efficient butlering get a handle on this wayward influencer group’s many needs? And can Helen tap into her keen observation skills to act, once again, as the detective on hand to solve the murder of Cartier’s friends?
If you like comedic, cozy mysteries like The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman or The Maid by Nita Prose, then give the Helen Thorpe books a try. The first in the series was Mindful of Murder, but you can read A Meditation on Murder as a standalone.
In Mindful of Murder, Susan Juby introduces readers to Helen Thorpe, a former Buddhist nun who is both surprisingly calm and unexpectedly thrust into the role of detective. The book marks the start of what promises to be an engaging and quirky series, filled with Juby’s signature wit and charm.
Helen, having just completed her butler training and ready to embark on her dream career, finds her plans interrupted when she is named the executor of the will of her late employer, Edna. This leads her back to Sutil Island, a tranquil, remote spot with a few less-than-tranquil residents. Tasked with evaluating four candidates to determine who is worthy of running Edna’s estate / spiritual retreat centre, Helen quickly discovers that the job is anything but serene. Her assignment involves sorting through a colourful cast of characters—each with their own motives, quirks, and less-than-mindful behaviour. It’s a world full of floral arrangements, meditation class, passive-aggressive feuds, and, of course, murder.
Helen’s Buddhist training is a central theme throughout the novel, offering a unique twist to the traditional cozy mystery genre. Her mindfulness practices and meditative approach to life are juxtaposed against the chaotic, petty, and sometimes ridiculous antics of the other characters, making for a delightful contrast. While Helen herself remains the picture of calm amidst the storm, her classmates—fellow butlers—follow suit, but their single local trainee and the four candidates demonstrate less composure. The way Juby weaves together these personality clashes—amid the pressure of solving a crime—makes for an entertaining, if unusual, detective tale.
Juby’s writing is clever, and she balances humour with the mystery’s unfolding drama well. The novel’s comedic moments are reminiscent of the dry, observational humour found in British mysteries, and the murder itself—believed to be a planned suicide due to Edna’s involvement in the death-positive club —is treated less like a shocking event and more like another quirky island incident to be handled.
If you enjoy cozy mysteries with a fun twist, Mindful of Murder will fit right into your bookshelf. Fans of Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency or Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club will find Helen’s blend of serenity and sly sleuthing refreshing. Or if mystery isn’t your thing, try Susan Juby’s other novels. I loved The Woefield Poultry Collective, and really enjoyed Susan Juby’s talk at the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts.
The Double Life of Benson Yu by Kevin Chong is a layered and thought-provoking novel that blends reality and imagination, fiction and autobiography. The story follows Benson Yu, a comic book artist who is grappling with the trauma of his past. As he begins to write a more serious autobiographical work, the lines between his life and his comic book creations start to blur. The narrative toggles between Benson’s present-day struggles and the fictionalized account of his younger self, which reveals painful truths he’s tried to bury.
The novel explores themes of identity, memory, and the ways in which we try to rewrite our own stories. I recently saw Kevin Chong present at the Sechelt Festival of Writers and he described it as a story about storytelling. And that’s 100% true. The novel is about how the past can haunt the present and the cathartic power of storytelling.
Chong’s writing is vivid yet introspective. The chapters focus on different perspectives and that forces the reader to question the boundaries between author and character, reality and fiction.
If you enjoy novels that challenge narrative conventions and explore complex emotional landscapes, The Double Life of Benson Yu is a compelling read. It’s reminiscent of works like Paul Auster’s The New York Trilogy or Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Unconsoled in its blending of the real and the surreal.
I really enjoyed listening to the audiobook but given the complexity of the story narration, it may have been a better read vs. listen. But Eric Yang is a great reader so the audiobook offered a lot too. It was also fun to hear author Kevin Chong talk about his writing process and how the ideas for this book came together. He’s not a planner, but instead starts writing and lets the ideas and problems/solutions present themselves. I found that intriguing and can see why it works for him.
The Porcelain Moon follows the intertwined lives of two families during the final days of the First World War.
Pauline Deng is an illegitimate daughter, living with her Chinese uncle and cousin Theo in Paris. They run an antiques shop. Pauline is good with numbers and attractive, but her prospects are limited, and her uncle’s “first wife” is arranging Pauline’s marriage and return to China. Pauline secretly leaves for the town of Noyelle-sur-Mer, where she hopes to find Theo and convince him to negotiate her release from her uncle.
In Noyelle-sur-Mer, Pauline takes a room at Camille Rousell’s. Unbeknownst to her, the married Camille is Theo’s lover. Camille has married out of obligation and is secretly saving money to escape her abusive husband. She loves Theo but her situation is dangerous and she is determined to leave under her own steam.
These two women, trapped by marriage and the social obligations of the time, are bold and brave in their pursuit of happiness and independence. They are living during a well-documented time, but readers will be less familiar with the history of the 140,000 Chinese workers who were brought to Europe as non-combatant labour during the war. They were serving as civilians for the British and French, and faced discrimination and were subsequently written out of the history books.
The Phoenix Crown is a spectacular confluence of two excellent historical fiction authors. I’m a big fan of Kate Quinn and had not heard of Janie Chang—even though she is a bestselling Canadian author. Oh goodness, I have a more to explore! (Thanks for the tip Rachael.)
The novel is set in San Francisco, 1906, just a before and after the earthquake, and subsequent fires, that devastated the city. Four women’s lives are intertwined based on their loose connections to a charming railroad magnate named Henry Thornton. Thornton claims to not be a very nice man, and that turns out to be the truth. He’s a collector and his objects are his heart. Too bad he collects women the same way he collects stolen Chinese treasures.
Thornton offers his patronage to Gemma (under-appreciated opera singer), Suling (Chinese embroidery legend and otherwise non-descript manager of the laundry), and Reggie (unknown yet phenomenal artist). His patronage represents career opportunities of a lifetime, but these women hardly escape with their lives. The forth woman? Botanist Alice Eastwood, who is a globetrotting, self-taught scientist, who is interested in Thornton’s prized plant, the Queen of the Night.
An absolutely beautiful and poetic story about a young art historian growing up in Toronto in the 20s and 30s and being shipped off to war in the 40s.
I listened to this as an audiobook and the phrasing of the sentences sounded more like poetry than prose. I loved all the art references and side notes about how different colours came to be used in art. And I got swept away in the love story and tragedy of this young man.
If you liked the beauty of Tom Lake, the historical references of The Sleeping Car Porter, or loved CS Richardson’s previous book End of the Alphabet, then give this a read.
Christine Estima’s debut work is a wonderful read. The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society weaves together the stories of many generations of women from an Arab family as they flee the Middle East in the nineteenth century, settle in Montreal, and then visit or return to their roots. These women are connected through time by their culture, their bravery, and their tenacity. The book is a collection of short stories but they feel connected like chapters of a novel. This is an impressive work.
Christine Estima draws on her own Lebanese, Syrian and Portuguese heritage to write incredible multicultural portrayals, especially of living in Montreal. There is also a dark undercurrent of cultural stereotypes and biases about women, but Estima’s characters challenge those notions and find a place for themselves.
The Syrian Ladies Benevolent Society is a serious yet delightful book. It has an unusual trim size (7″ x 6″) making the whole package unique.
