SaskBooks Reviews

Bone Sense by Laurie Lynn Muirhead Published by Thistledown Press Review by Catherine Fuchs $9.95 ISBN 978-1-927068-07-6 Bone Sense grabs the reader right from the start. Laurie Lynn Muirhead’s poetry is voiced in a rich texture of metaphors in an up-close and frank look at life on a cattle ranch. Laurie Lynn Muirhead tells her story through poetry as she weaves words with an unvarnished truth about the hard life of a rancher’s wife. She rolls out of her “warm dry bed” and takes you along on her early morning walks to the dugout as she begins a long day of daily chores and obligations. Ms. Muirhead’s poetry has the ability to touch all the senses. You can feel the frost on your skin and hear the coyotes howl in the dark as they wait to steal new life from the weak. Author Laurie Lynn Muirhead ranches in Shellbrook, Saskatchewan and she writes her poetry between the calving, the slaughtering, the 4H Fund Raiders and auctions. You will follow her story in poetry as it unfolds through the seasons. Ranching life is certainly not a life for the faint-hearted, but the poetic telling of the tale is for everyone who…

Blood and Salt by Barbara Sapergia Published by Coteau Books Review by Alison Slowski $21.95 ISBN 978-1-55050-513-9 Barbara Sapergia’s latest novel, Blood and Salt, tells the story of Taras Kalyna. Taras, a young Ukrainian man from Halychyna province in Austrian-occupied Ukraine, never expected to wind up on this train. Upon his immigration to Canada in 1914, he finds himself a job at a brick plant in Southern Saskatchewan and plans to find his sweetheart, Halya, and marry her. Suddenly, Taras is pulled from his job and sent on a train to an internment camp in remote Castle Mountain, Alberta. The days are long, work is hard and wearying, and the food is disgusting slop. The wind and cold are biting and fierce, a constant reminder of a crime these immigrant Ukrainian men don’t remember committing. The ever-present guards watch over the poorly dressed prisoners labouring through a harsh Canadian winter. The Canadian government, in an act of incredible injustice, has decided these Ukrainians are “enemy aliens”, and should be in this camp because Canada is at war with Austria. All is not lost, though. As Taras begins to build friendships with the other Ukrainian prisoners, he begins to see life…

Voiceless by Caroline Wissing Published by Thistledown Press Review by Justin Dittrick ISBN 978-1-897235-98-0 $15.95 What is it like not to have a voice? To be unable to share one’s thoughts and feelings with the people one cares about? What is it like to be alone “Out There” and voiceless? Caroline Wissing’s stunning young adult novel, Voiceless, is narrated by Annabel, who was placed in foster care at Noble Spirit Farm. As the witness of a traumatic event, she has lost the ability to speak and must convey her thoughts and feelings with signs and emotional expression. The first half of the novel takes place at Noble Spirit Farm, where Annabel and her foster siblings live in a world once-removed from the violence, alcoholism, and drug-abuse that have had an effect in shaping them. Annabel recalls in shimmering detail what makes a teenager’s life on the farm so special, so formative. She lovingly describes her relationships with her companions, both animal and human, whose idiosyncrasies will seem poignant and familiar to readers of all tastes. Due to an unexpected event, Annabel must leave Noble Spirit Farm with Graydon, her first lover. The second half of the novel is set in…