Quill and Quire

Fiction: Novels

Unravelled

By Robyn Harding

You know what you’re going to get with most chick lit: an appealing heroine with a job that leads to hijinks or, at the very least, some low-grade titillation. While these books add little to ... Read More »

June 14, 2007 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Town House

By Tish Cohen

At age 36, Jack Madigan would seem to be skewing slightly old to be a proper hero of romantic comedy, but no: he fits the role as perfectly as Hugh Grant wears his hair. Author ... Read More »

June 14, 2007 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Milk Chicken Bomb

By Andrew Wedderburn

Welcome to Marvin, Alberta, the fictional landscape of writer/musician Andrew Wedderburn’s debut novel. Starring “the kid,” an unnamed narrator who stands against the backdrop of the local meat-packing plant, amid Russian expatriates, smalltown antiheroes, bonspiels, ... Read More »

June 13, 2007 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Belle Falls

By Sherri Vanderveen

It’s a compelling opening for a novel: on a sunny afternoon, six-year-old Brennan Allister is riding his bike around his affluent neighbourhood when he disappears. Hours later, bruised, bitten, and wearing only his underwear, he ... Read More »

June 13, 2007 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Missing the Ark

By Catherine Kidd

Mining the animal kingdom for metaphors for the human condition, this flawed first novel by acclaimed Montreal spoken word artist Catherine Kidd provides a fascinating look into the lives of animals and the craft of ... Read More »

June 13, 2007 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

The Tablecloth Trick

By Rick Crilly

Toronto writer Rick Crilly’s debut is labelled as “experimental fiction” by its publisher. This is a fair statement. To less than a hundred pages of fragmented narrative Crilly adds 54 footnotes and 20 endnotes that ... Read More »

June 13, 2007 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels