Gabrielle Rougeby Maureen UlrichPublished by Flatlands PressReview by Sally Meadows$21.99 ISBN 9781778296505 Full confession: alternate historical fantasy novels for young adults is not a genre I typically reach for. But when the opportunity came up to review Maureen Ulrich’s Gabrielle Rouge (Book 2 in the Winds of Change series), I jumped at it after reviewing and enjoying her middle years’ book Kimeto’s Journey, about an 11-year-old African boy who has an extraordinary adventure. The fact that Ulrich has published in multiple genres, for different age groups, attests to her skills as a writer, and I, as a reader, am all in on her writing journey. At the beginning of Gabrielle Rouge, 16-year-old, flame-haired Gabrielle is returning home from the riots in Andwarf. Accompanied by Thomas, the young blacksmith who has pledged to serve her as the prospective incoming leader of the town of Lille after the untimely death of her war-hero father, and with her brother out of the picture, Gabrielle will need all the support she can get. It doesn’t take long for our female protagonist to declare her intentions to the townspeople; and just as quickly, she is met with both quiet and outright opposition. The remainder of…

The Dark Unicornby Edward WillettPublished by Endless Sky BooksReview by Toby A. Welch  $19.99 ISBN 9781989398951 I wasn’t surprised to learn that The Dark Unicorn was a finalist in the Children’s Literature category in the 1999 Saskatchewan Book Awards. This fantastical story about a young man’s quest to save the world from destruction is hard to put down! While some readers may consider this book a bit dark, I was uplifted by the underlying thread of hope that runs through it. The story focuses on Nels, a flutist in a theatre group who is gifted a carved unicorn with a magical power – the ability to save the Wall, the only barrier standing between him and an enemy bent on wiping out life as he knows it. His journey with the unicorn is an intriguing one.  My favourite character in the story is a scrappy young pickpocket named Dart. He and Nels team up in the mission to protect their world and he is the perfect sidekick. Dart has a huge secret, takes risks without hesitation, and gives as good as he gets while defending his people. For readers, Dart is a gift for our imaginations as his story arc is fascinating.  While The…

The Chorus Beneath Our Feetby Melanie SchnellPublished by Radiant PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$25.00 ISBN 9781998926329 Regina writer Melanie Schnell’s debut novel, While the Sun is Above Us, earned her the Saskatchewan First Book Award and The City of Regina Award at the 2013 Saskatchewan Book Awards, and I expect her recently released second novel, The Chorus Beneath Our Feet, will also garner attention, particularly for its ambitious plot. Schnell’s braided several surprisingly disparate elements and parallelled the relationships between two sets of siblings in this crime story set in “Ravenwood,” Alberta. The first brother and sister were among the 100,000 Barnardo’s Homes’ children shipped from England to Canada to labour on farms between 1869 – 1948. These 100,000 “home children” were ripped from their families and treated extremely poorly in Canada. Ravenwood rumours suggest that the bodies of these separated siblings are buried beneath the massive oak tree (the “Harron Tree”) in the city’s central park. A local construction company is razing the tree for the construction of a mall, and protesters are rallying around the stately oak. The second set of siblings are Jes, an army Sargeant who’s returned home after eight years in Afghanistan—he’s accompanying his fellow…

Elephants in the Roomby Betty Jane HegeratPublished by Shadowpaw PressReview by Sally Meadows$22.99 ISBN 9781998273485 The best–or at least most satisfying–single-author anthologies have a common thread woven throughout the stories. In Betty Jane Hegerat’s new short story collection Elephants in the Room, published by Shadowpaw Press, readers don’t have to dig deep to identify the connecting theme: it’s right there in the title. Hegerat has taken eight of her previously published stories and fleshed out her overarching idea of topics that are avoided because they’re uncomfortable to discuss, with six new tales including the capstone story “Elephants” that literally includes elephants–lots of elephants–in the room. With deft precision, she fearlessly exposes the things we often keep to ourselves: secrets and lies, regrets and beliefs, fears and hopes, all mixed in with glimmers of love, grace, and compassion. Hegerat’s prose is both straightforward and complex as she adroitly exposes human foibles–especially as they surface in imperfect family relationships–with a dose of humour and/or affection. Her characters are finely drawn, inherently flawed, and more relatable than we might be willing to admit: the begrudging son who receives praise when he least expects it; a daughter-in-law’s final act of love for her husband’s…

Into the D/arkby David EliasPublished by Radiant PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$22.00 ISBN 9781998926381 Into the D/ark is the dream-like and aptly-titled new novel by veteran Winnipeg writer David Elias, as all is not well for blacksmith/artist Clarence; his wife, Rose; and their fire-disfigured sons in rural Manitoba circa 1963. Indeed, Rose’s best friend, Martha—who inadvertently photographs JFK’s assassination while on holiday—and her fanatical, ark-building brother, Abe, are also battling demons. Like the snow-whipped landscape, the characters are driven toward a frenzy with their disparate obsessions: Rose’s love of women’s magazines; her self-exiled sons’ non-stop watching of American TV programs (their panacea in the rough shack they’ve named “Bachelor’s Paradise);” Martha’s black and white photography, and her secret love for Rose; Abe’s ark project; and Clarence’s shift from welding farm implements to creating nonsensical metal monsters. The key to this original book’s success is manyfold. Firstly, the distinct characterizations and the author’s ability to credibly portray madness are remarkable: an entire, almost fantastical chapter is dedicated to Clarence’s unravelling, which coincides with the removal of his welding mask: … he now bathed in glorious unending light, all because he kept his naked eyes fixed on the dazzling blaze of metallic…

No Straight Linesby Ruth ChorneyPublished by 7SpringsBooksReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$25.00 ISBN 9781738323531 Chalk it up to interesting and relatable characters, dynamic plots, and rural settings so viscerally described, you can taste the prairie soil on your teeth: Kelvington, SK writer Ruth Chorney’s latest book, the contemporary mystery No Straight Lines, is another winner. From the police interrogation of protagonist Ingrid that opens the story—a clever device for providing readers with relevant background information—to the satisfying epilogue, I was quickly entranced by this novel—the author’s fourth—set in fictional Kettlebank in northeastern Saskatchewan. Ben Franklin’s credited for saying “nothing is certain except death and taxes,” and while there’s no mention of taxes in this beguiling mystery, death veritably abounds. First Person narrator, Ingrid, is on “extended compassionate leave” from her kitchen designer career in Toronto. Born and raised in rural Saskatchewan, the twenty-something returns to Kettlebank after her father, a farmer, is found dead in his hayfield “on the shady side of the baler”. Ingrid, “a home-town star who made good,” fled Saskatchewan two days after her beloved brother Eric’s funeral: he was killed in a questionable car accident six years earlier, and she’s not been back since. In Toronto, her…

Kimeto’s Journeyby Maureen UlrichPublished by Flatlands PressReview by Sally Meadows$17.99 ISBN 9781778296574 While watching over his family’s cattle grazing on Kenyan rangelands, eleven-year-old Kimeto spots a leather strap hanging from an acacia tree, a sure sign of a poacher’s snare. The next morning on their way to school, he and his two younger sisters come across the carcass of a large elephant. Splashing noises nearby lead them to a baby elephant struggling to escape the muddy red waters of a steep-sided well. Despite the potential danger to himself, Kimeto slips in to help. As he comforts the baby elephant, he begins to bond with her. When two park rangers finally arrive, the three of them manage to rescue the elephant calf. What will happen to her next? Has Kimeto made her life better–or worse? The bulk of this middle grade (ages 8-14) coming-of-age novel documents Kimeto’s journey to the wildlife sanctuary in Nairobi to find out the little elephant’s fate. Along the way, the reader is given a fascinating glimpse into the Kenyan cultural landscape. The juxtaposition of the traditional way of life of the rural Maasai against modern-day perils in the big city makes a compelling story as it…

The Traitor’s Sonby Dave DuncanPublished by Shadowpaw PressReview by Toby A. Welch  $26.99 ISBN 9781989398913 The Traitor’s Son is the ultimate worst case scenario book and I couldn’t put it down! This science fiction read is about a colony in futuristic times. The colony has limped along for centuries but it is now at a crossroads; either they change almost everything in their world or they face extinction. I don’t want to give away too much! Duncan does a phenomenal job of making readers feel like they are immersed in the action taking place on the pages. For example, check out this paragraph about a crew fighting to keep their ferry on course despite storm surges and squalls: “Melchior sighed in relief. ‘That’s Touchdown. Stand by for a sharp turn.’ He has landmarks to guide him now, and swung the boat to the left just as it cleared the island. The tide itself shot them around into the calmer water in the lee, although Doig’s stomach thought he had slid over a cliff.”   Science fiction isn’t one of my must-read genres. But every time I dive into a sci-fi book – especially one as engrossing as The Traitor’s Son – I resolve to make…

A Snake and a Feathered Birdby Angie EllisPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Brandon Fick$24.95 ISBN 9781771872812 Angie Ellis’s ambitious debut novel, A Snake and a Feathered Bird, began in such a way that I wasn’t sure I’d like it: the characters seemed guarded, the relationships and context opaque. After a series of events in the second chapter, I wondered where the story would go. What was it about? Really, I just needed patience. Ellis slowly peels back the layers of her characters, and the result is a deeply felt yet often restrained novel. While historical, it is relevant to our times. This is the story of Ben Maclean’s coming-of-age in late-nineteenth century Vancouver Island, mostly around 1890-1891, with flashbacks to the 1870s and 1880s following characters connected to Ben. At the beginning of the novel, Ben is living in a rural cabin with Agda and James, who he thinks are his parents. At nine, on a bootlegging run with James to a city that’s presumably Victoria, he meets Lily, who he’s told is his cousin, and misfortune strikes. Soon after returning to their cabin, Ben’s protective mother Agda mysteriously dies. Further summary cannot capture the complexity this novel offers –…

The Discovery of Finnegan Wildeby Caroline Pignat, Illustrations by Alan CrannyPublished by Thistledown PressReview by Shelley A. Leedahl$16.95 ISBN 9781771872874 It’s daunting to receive a 406-page novel for review. If poorly-written, it’s a tremendous slog to read. On the flip side, if the story’s seeped in richly-described settings, features distinct and memorable characters, and showcases deft plotting (including a major twist), the pages quickly slip by. Fortunately, The Discovery of Finnegan Wilde—a historical novel for young adults by Governor-General Award-winning writer Caroline Pignat—fell firmly into the latter camp. My first surprise was that the title character is a girl. Fifteen-year-old Finn lives rough on the streets of 1913 Dublin. She “was in the business of surviving,” which included pickpocketing, and “lying was Finn’s mother tongue.” The scrawny lass has no memory of family, is targeted by another young urchin, Dooley, and—when she can escape the Woodhall Workhouse orphanage where she’s kept in a medicated fog—she sleeps beneath “a rusted sheet of metal,” cold, hungry, and among rats. This lively book’s two other important characters are Eddie, a lonely apprentice archaeologist (under his archaeologist father) at the National Museum, and the 9th century monk, Tomás, who penned a mysterious illustrated manuscript,…