SaskBooks Reviews

The School of the Haunted River by Colleen GerwingPublished by Endless Sky BooksReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$24.99 ISBN 9781989398869 What a surprise. It’s poetic, actually. During my Saskatoon years, each time I’d launch a book, an affable but unassuming woman I knew only by sight would attend and we’d make minimal small talk while she had her copy signed. I moved. Several years passed. I never thought of her again. Last week a newly-released autobiographical novel arrived in the mail. The School of the Haunted River concerns outdoorswoman Jay, who takes her college-aged niece, Dilly, on a two-week snowshoeing and camping trip in northern Saskatchewan. I flipped to the author bio and photo before beginning the novel, and there she was, Colleen Gerwing, the woman who’d attended all of my Saskatoon launches. I never even knew she was writing. And I certainly never knew she’d died in 2021; this sad fact made reading her fine stories-within-a-story even more bittersweet. In her “real” life, Gerwing, I learned, grew up on a farm near Lake Lenore, SK, and her love of adventure was evident from childhood. In 1977 she hitchhiked to the National Outdoor Leadership School in Wyoming, and later worked for…

The Economy of Sparrowsby Trevor HerriotPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$24.95 ISBN 9781771872461 I’m considering what I enjoyed most about award-winning Regina writer, grassland conservationist, and naturalist Trevor Herriot’s first foray into fiction. His debut novel, The Economy of Sparrows, conveys the story of pensioner Nell Rowan, a Saskatchewan-born birder and researcher who—after earning a biology degree at Carleton and working for two decades as a night janitor cleaning “the bathrooms and hallways of the National Museum of Nature’s research and collections facility”—returns to her family’s southern Saskatchewan farmstead and remains dedicated to learning everything possible about “long-dead bird collector” William Spreadborough, and the other early naturalists and collectors she read about on her work breaks. Is there some connection between Spreadborough and her own family? This multi-layered book succeeds on every level. Firstly, the plot: Nell’s obsession with Spreadborough drives the story, but there’s also a mother who walked into winter and was never found; a teenaged foster child with a knack for communicating with animals; interesting rural neighbours; and Nell’s passion for documenting the birds in her area … her “bird survey stuff”. Nell tries to remain optimistic, but her faith in policy-makers re: reports, surveys…

Elemental EveWritten by Barbara Kahan, Illustrations by Wendy WinterPublished by Wild Sage PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$29.95 ISBN 9780988122994 The front and back cover images on Saskatoon writer Barbara Kahan’s complex multi-generational novel, Elemental Eve, depict two magnificent, multi-coloured watercolour paintings of women—one young, one old—set against snow-white backgrounds. Before reading even the first word, I paused to appreciate Wendy Winter’s cover illustrations: this is one of the most attractive books I’ve seen in a long time. Metaphorically speaking, Elemental Eve is a labyrinthine river with numerous tributaries, flood plains and wetlands. The plot concerns four different “Eves”. There’s Millennium Eve, a revered artist who lives in Regina. She’s the great- grandmother of Future Eve (Evie), a young New Zealander and self-professed “wanna-be artist with no talent” who travels to Canada to speak with a third woman, Solloway, a close friend of Millennium Eve’s. Soloway grew up in Regina, worked in Toronto for many years, and retired to a cabin in northern Saskatchewan. Two other Eves—Biblical Eve (she has intellectual conversations with the Serpent) and Prime Eve (who “climbed out of the briny sea billions of years ago”)—appear less frequently in this heavily-populated novel that spans the length of history…

The Elephant on Karlův Bridgeby Thomas TrofimukPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Toby A. Welch$24.95 ISBN 9781771872331 Holy cannoli – what did I just finish devouring?!! This amazing fiction read will be on my Top Three Books of 2023 list.  Considering how much I loved The Elephant on Karlův Bridge, I am horrified to admit that I was skeptical at first. The premise seemed ridiculous. The novel is narrated by a bridge in Prague – what the heck? The story centres around an elephant named Sál that escapes from the Prague Zoo, detailing the people she encounters as she navigates her freedom. How can that be entertaining? But I jumped in as I have been a huge Trofimuk fan since 2002 when I read the award-winning The 52nd Poem, his first published novel.  My life changed the moment I cracked The Elephant on Karlův Bridge open. That sounds dramatic but it’s true. This book will linger long in my consciousness. Under Trofimuk’s expert hand, the five-ton elephant took on human characteristics. Crazy, I know! Another bonus is the joy of being submerged into the beautiful and alive city of Prague; if readers close their eyes and focus, they can feel like they are actually there.  As enthralling as Sál…

Small Reckoningsby Karin Melberg SchwierPublished by Shadowpaw Press RepriseReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$24.99 ISBN 9781989398746 Sometimes a book is so phenomenal it goes into multiple printings, either with the original publisher or with a fresh publisher. Such is the case with Saskatoon author Karin Melberg Schwier’s Small Reckonings, a Watrous, SK-based novel set between 1914 and 1936, and inspired by true events. I reviewed this book—for which the writer received a John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award for Fiction—when it was first published by Burton House Books in 2020. A revised edition came out in 2021 with Copestone, and that same year it earned a Saskatchewan Book Award. This year, Shadowpaw Press Reprise has released the third edition. This story’s got staying power. I stand by what I claimed in my initial review: Small Reckonings deserves a huge audience. Kudos to the multi-genre writer, and to Regina publisher (and writer) Edward Willett for recognizing that many well-written books deserve another chance to shine. Excerpts of my earlier review of this beautifully-crafted and highly enjoyable novel also get a reprise: Melberg Schwier expertly creates individuated characters readers will care deeply about, including the central figure, Violet, who, at birth, looks like…

Leaving Wisdomby Sharon ButalaPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Toby A. Welch$24.95 ISBN 9781771872362 I first fell in love with Sharon Butala’s writing in the 90s when someone gifted me a copy of her #1 best-selling book The Perfection of the Morning. Since then, I have followed her writing journey closely, devouring almost all of the 20+ books she has penned. Butala’s ability to craft a story that sticks with you long after you’ve turned the last page continues with her latest book, Leaving Wisdom. This is a fascinating novel centered around an intriguing character named Judith. The mother of four adult children, Judith is headed to her own retirement party when she slips on a patch of ice. She whacks her head and suffers a life-altering concussion. Struggling to recover and deal with the memories that her fall seems to have dislodged, she moves from big town Alberta to small town Saskatchewan to be closer to the family farm. What ensues is a wild journey filled with unanswered questions and a woman’s quest for the truth. The book is divided into three parts: Wisdom, Sage, and Jerusalem. Hesitant to give away too much, I’ll just say that the third part…

Dysfunctional Regulatory Bodies: Scarecrows and Stupidityby D.R. CameronPublished by Cameron NarrativesReview by Toby A. Welch$24.99 ISBN 9781738687701 Dysfunctional Regulatory Bodies is a work of satirical fiction. That’s a new genre for me so I needed to get the lowdown. It turns out that satirical fiction is loosely defined as a work that ridicules a specific topic in order to provoke readers to change their thoughts and/or opinions on the topic. That works for me – bring it on!  I was clueless when I dove into this book so I was grateful for the preface that Cameron included before chapter one. I highly recommend you don’t skip the preface as it gives you a solid explanation of the treat that you are in for in the pages ahead.  The layout of this book makes it a joy to read. It’s broken up into short chapters, which I love. The font isn’t large but it’s not small either – my eyes were grateful. The frequent use of bullet points is aesthetically pleasing, breaking up the pages into easily digestible chunks.  Each chapter begins with dysfunctionality questions for you to keep in mind as you read the next few pages. I found them…

Murder at San Miguelby Danee WilsonPublished by Radiant PressReview by Toby A. Welch$22.00 ISBN 9781989274767 Murder at San Miguel is a solid read with a riveting storyline. The main character – an archaeological illustrator named Beatrix Forster – tags along to Spain when her archaeology professor husband goes to excavate a medieval cemetery. (They undertake the adventure as it is believed that a famous medieval knight is potentially buried at the site.) What ensues is an exciting story involving a murder as well as twists and turns that I didn’t see coming. I won’t say more as I don’t want to ruin it for you – although I will mention that an adorable fox terrier named Muffin tags along on the journey, adding a touch of canine love and humour to the book.  Don’t fear – you don’t need to have even a remote interest in archaeology to enjoy Murder at San Miguel. I knew nothing about secondary burial places or burying bodies facing specific directions yet I thoroughly devoured every page. As a side bonus, as someone who has never given a thought to archaeology beyond watching Indiana Jones movies, I found myself enjoying the subject matter. Of course…

Danceland Diaryby Dee Hobsbawn-SmithPublished by Radiant PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$22.00 ISBN 9-781989-274828 ‘Tis a wondrous thing to watch a writer’s oeuvre grow. I’ve had the pleasure of following Saskatchewan’s Dee Hobsbawn-Smith evolution as she’s published enviable books of poetry, short fiction and nonfiction—including the scrumptious Bread & Water: Essays—and now this hard-working writer’s earned another literary moniker: novelist. Danceland Diary, the award-winning author’s premiere novel, is saturated with poetic imagery, a juicy plot, and longing. First-person narrator Luka Dekker’s been born into an off-colony Hutterite family that harbours dark secrets—indeed, keeping secrets seems an intergenerational trait for these “gypsy Hutterites,” and Luka’s got a dandy of her own. It’s been twenty-two years since Luka’s unstable mother, Lark, abandoned Luka and her sister, Connie, and moved to the west coast. The girls were raised by their grandmother, the matriarch Anky, and never saw Lark again. At eighteen Luka left her rural Saskatchewan life to attempt to find her beautiful and elusive mother in Vancouver. The timing of Lark’s disappearance eerily lines up with Robert Pickton’s murders of women from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Is there a connection? Luka’s thirty when the novel begins. She has horticulture and botany degrees, and a…

Finding Izzyby Sheryl DohertyPublished by Wood Dragon BooksReview by Toby A. Welch$18.99 ISBN 9781989078662 Finding Izzy is a dense book, almost 300 pages with a small font. But that is a great thing for the readers – it gives the author enough space to flesh out an engrossing story that pulls you in from page one.  Speaking of page one, that is where the action begins. In the opening scene, the main character, Izzy, wakes up in a hospital with no idea who she is. She sees a news story on TV about missing Indigenous women and is convinced she is one of them. She shares her theory with the two police officers who are trying to figure out who she is; they aren’t convinced she’s right. Once discharged from the hospital, Izzy is taken to a temporary emergency home in North Vancouver as Family Services believes she is under 18. From there the story takes off as police try to identify her through dental implants, fingerprints, and distinguishing marks.  Although this is a work of fiction, it is fascinating to ride along with the main character on her journey with amnesia. Doherty does a superb job of dropping us…