Coming to Salvation by Lori Kohlman Published by Lori Kohlman Review by Cindy Wilson $19.99 ISBN 978-0-9810826-1-5 Lori Kohlman returns us to a time in our history when the world was not steeped in technology and industrialization. As her novel shows, the triumphs and tribulations experienced by individuals at that time run parallel to those experienced by individuals in society today. This novel tells two stories. The first begins in 1939 when Angelica Aster answers an ad in a Winnipeg newspaper. She comes to Salvation, Saskatchewan, as a mail-order bride for Jacob Matthews and as a step-mother for Peter, his young son. Angelica has a secret. She does not come to Saskatchewan only to find a husband. Her reasons for coming to Jacob’s farm involve the death of Jacob’s first wife and the suspicion that little Peter is unloved and uncared for. The second storyline tells of a modern day couple, Rachel and Will. They come to Salvation to work out their marital problems, hoping to re-claim the love they have somehow lost with the passing years. They come to stay with Will’s bachelor Uncle Pete on the family farm. As the novel progresses we see the similarities between Angelica…

Never Going Back by Antonia Banyard Published by Thistledown Press Review by Marie Powell Mendenhall $16.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-69-0 Never Going Back is about a group of friends who do go back – to their hometown of Nelson BC, to confront their past and each other in order to move on with their lives. The novels begins as Evan, Siobhan, and Lea make a road-trip home, some 10 years after high school, to attend the memorial of a high school friend. As they reunite with Lance and Mandy, they discover that each hides a secret related to their absent friend Kristy, and her suicide 10 years earlier. As Siobhan remembers it: “There they’d been, on the verge of real life, so how could one of them die? But September came and they scattered, each in their own direction, and before she knew it, their tight-knit group was over.” For them, “High school is a state of mind. Not a building, not a stage of life, but a worldview. Some people never grow out of it.” Antonia Banyard grew up in Nelson, after emigrating from Zambia to Canada, and recreates the setting with ease in her first novel. With chapters written from…

Raising Orion by Lesley Choyce Published by Thistledown Press Ltd Review by Cindy Wilson $19.95 978-1-897235-80-5 For those who believe in mystical events, miracles, and the endless possibilities of what can be achieved when you truly believe, Raising Orion is the book for you. If you are very skeptical about how one person’s mind can touch the mind of another, causing wondrous results, this is also the book for you. Molly grew up as the only child of a lighthouse keeper on a remote island near Halifax, Nova Scotia. Having no classmates or playmates, she developed a tremendous rapport with nature. As a young child she began resurrecting seemingly dead birds and small animals. When she was twelve her father was caught at sea in an October storm. He was thrown from his dory by a ten foot wave. As his lungs filled with sea water he sank to the harbour floor. At home on the island, Molly knows exactly when this happens. Amazingly, her father is found alive on shore the next morning. That same morning Molly awakes to find her bedroom rug soaked through with a clear fluid, “as if she had drunk a great volume of water…

Red Smoke Rising by Rick Anthony Published by Basket Case Publishing Review by Rudolf Sandmeier $10.99 ISBN: 978-0-9866661-0-0 When I first heard of Rick Anthony’s Red Smoke Rising it was described to me as “a good rip of a read” and it did not disappoint. Each chapter is a rapid sequence of action-packed episodes and builds to a climax that takes the reader on a roller-coaster ride, zipping through its course. There is always the risk in books that move at this pace that the reader could be simply overwhelmed by the plot. However, Anthony handles this element admirably and is able to keep everything rolling together quite smoothly. Somewhat conversely, another reason why the novel is successful is the economy of language Anthony employs – while he has a lot going on he doesn’t use an excess of words to describe the action. These two characteristics combine to benefit the novel as a whole – Red Smoke Rising clocks in at over 300 pages but it simply doesn’t feel that long when reading it. In the end, Anthony’s efforts have produced a well-balanced and efficient work. We’re plunked down in the middle of the action as the novel begins…

Euphoria by Connie Gault Published by Coteau Books Review by Shelley A. Leedahl $21.00 ISBN 978-1-55050-409-5 It’s no surprise that Connie Gault’s historical novel, Euphoria: A Novel, was shortlisted for the 2009 Book of the Year (Saskatchewan Book Awards). The Regina writer of stage and radio plays and author of two well-received short story collections is one of those (too rare) writers who takes the time to get each book right, and now, with Coteau’s release of Euphoria, Gault’s secured her place as one of Saskatchewan’s most talented. The structuring of time and place is especially admirable in this novel. The story itself is what’s sometimes referred to as a quiet novel; the focus is on character development rather than a dramatic plot (though the aftermath of the Regina “cyclone” of 1912 does figure prominently). It’s a testament to Gault’s literary finesse that she not only keeps readers interested in the “quiet” lives of these characters who live, work, oversee, and, in the case of Orillia Cooper, convalesce in boarding houses, but that she also successfully shuffles these many lives – forward and back – over decades and disparate locations, without missing a beat. The author begins with two central…

My Sweet Curiosity by Amanda Hale Published by Thistledown Press Review by Karen Lawson $19.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-61-4 Amanda Hale’s third novel is a complex work that combines many different elements and themes. She has taken a variety of threads and woven them into an intricate tapestry that will keep the reader wanting more with every page. My Sweet Curiosity contains several plots and is set not only in different countries but also spans many centuries. The author incorporates historical facts from the sixteenth century with a contemporary story line to create a fast moving saga that contains few boundaries. The main characters of this novel live in present day Toronto. Talya is a young, energetic, medical student. Dai Ling is a talented cello player. Destiny brings them together and their lives become intertwined. Both young women are the daughters of immigrant parents. This complicates their relationship and adds another layer to the story. Both characters are struggling with their own personal issues and coming to terms with who they are and what their purpose in life is. Talya becomes obsessed not only with Dai Ling, but with a book of anatomical drawings compiled by a doctor by the name of…

Claudia by Britt Holmström Published by Coteau Books Review by Sandy Bonny $21.00 ISBN-13 987-1-55050-395-1 Britt Holmström’s fourth novel Claudia moves along the fine boundaries of appearance and private truth. An upper middle-class widow living in Regina, Claudia Hewitt has framed her life perfectly. Childhood poverty in Sweden with her Latvian refugee mother is far behind her, as are the embarrassments of her ‘too big’ nose and adolescent chubbiness. Her grown children’s mishaps are glossed by white lies, and Claudia has carefully protected her family and aging mother from the fact that she has witnessed three brutal murders – first as a teenager in Sweden, later while backpacking in Spain, and finally from the window of her beloved husband’s study in Regina. Does bearing witness make her complicit in these tragedies? Does her silence? And what secrets, out of love or fear of judgment, have Claudia’s mother and children kept from her? Claudia is written in a world where violence is inevitable, where female sexuality can corrupt and degrade as well as empower, and where love can nourish healing. Moving backward and forward in time, and between Winnipeg, Regina, Sweden, Spain, and Latvia, ‘Claudia’ covers a lot of ground. Details…

Dead Rock Stars by Wes Funk Published by Backroads Press Reviewed by Gail Jansen $15.95 ISBN: 978-0-9781396-1-8 Growing up different from others always makes its mark on who we become as adults. For Wes Funk’s main character Jackson Hill, in his novel Dead Rock Stars, growing up gay on a farm in small town Saskatchewan, with two red-necked brothers and a past that haunts him, it’s a mark that has led to isolation, no matter how far he thinks he has come. Yet as Funk writes, “there comes a time when a person has to make peace with his hostility.” In his engaging story about Hill and the Dead Rock Stars theme that plays on throughout his life, Funk subtly pushes the reader to look beyond the stereotype to see the man that Hill has become, and to see the very real issues he faces in confronting his past; a confrontation he is helped gently through with the aid of the handsome and charismatic Frank. While we have all faced such moments at one point or another in our lives – defining moments that lead us to embrace life, or run from it – in Hill’s case it’s a run…

The Serpent’s Veil by Maggi Feehan Published by Thistledown Press Review by Judith Silverthorne $18.95 ISBN 978-1-897235-56-0 Constance Stubbington wakes up in a hospital in London, England in 1899 after being thrown from a horse. The severe implications of her medical condition are withheld from her, as are the whereabouts of her father. In fact, she doesn’t recall much of her life at first, though there seem to be hints that she has spent some of her time in India during the time of colonialism. So begins Maggi Feehan’s intriguing first novel, The Serpent’s Veil. As this tale unfolds, Constance experiences a series of flashbacks and dreams. She sometimes shares these with Ank Maguire, her Irish surgeon’s assistant, whom she comes to trust. They also discover they share a spiritual connection that sometimes gives them positive insights and sometimes seems to cause problems. Constance has especially strong intuitions, which help her unravel ten years of her personal journey as she pieces her life together while still in hospital. They both have former lives and family traditions that haunt them. As they come to terms with these, they find that entering the world of intuition help transform them. This also brings…

Winnipeg writer David Elias is making a name for himself as a writer of increasingly interesting books. Coteau Books recently published his fourth, the novel “Waiting for Elvis,” and because I was ardently cheering for these hardluck characters, I had a hard time putting the book down.