Quill and Quire

Fiction: Novels

★ Pastoral

By André Alexis

André Alexis’s new novella should be neither judged nor dismissed on the basis  of its title. The pastoral is often defined by clean images that conjure the simplicity, serenity, and charm of rural places and ... Read More »

May 1, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Hair-Trigger

By Trevor Clark

With his new novel, Vancouver writer Trevor Clark takes readers deep into Toronto’s dark underbelly, an emotionally barren world of guns, drugs, and casual violence. It’s a world without joy, but that’s only part of ... Read More »

April 16, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Empress of the Night

By Eva Stachniak

Eva Stachniak’s previous novel, The Winter Palace, was a well-received work of historical fiction about Catherine the Great. Narrated by one of Catherine’s most trusted attendants, Varvara, it spanned the future monarch’s arrival in Russia ... Read More »

April 16, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Fields of Exile

By Nora Gold

Certain political issues are so combustible, so emotionally fraught, that debate – even discussion – about them feels perilous. High stakes narrow fields of vision, as if individuals have been outfitted with blinders to anyone’s ... Read More »

March 13, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Grayling

By Gillian Wigmore

Reviewing first fiction is an activity filled with trepidation, particularly if the author is an award-winning writer in another genre. B.C.’s Gillian Wigmore is just that, a prolific and highly regarded Canadian poet whose Soft ... Read More »

March 13, 2014 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels