Quill and Quire

Reviews

★ Harmless

By James Grainger

“How did it get so late so soon? It’s night before it’s afternoon.” Dr. Seuss’s quip might well serve as an epigraph for James Grainger’s superb debut novel. This taut, timely tale keenly dissects the ... Read More »

May 4, 2015 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Red Jacket

By Pamela Mordecai

The first novel from Jamaican-born poet, short-story writer, and scholar Pamela Mordecai is a deliberately paced, trenchant story of one woman’s coming of age on the fictional Caribbean island of St. Chris, and her difficult ... Read More »

April 27, 2015 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Confidence

By Russell Smith

Russell Smith’s new collection of short stories won’t leave you feeling wonderful about the human race. His characters reveal themselves to be liars and cheats, manipulators, and careerists, all doing their best to hold things ... Read More »

April 14, 2015 | Filed under: Fiction: Short

A Free Man

By Michel Basilières

Admirers of Michel Basilières’ Black Bird, which won the 2003 Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, have been waiting for a follow-up for more than a decade. Apparently, it’s not coming. According to a throwaway ... Read More »

April 14, 2015 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

Against a Darkening Sky

By Lauren B. Davis

Lauren B. Davis’s latest novel transports its reader back to seventh-century England, where widespread belief in superstitions, spirits, and gods galore collides with the birth of Christianity. In her acknowledgments, the author likens her imaginative ... Read More »

April 14, 2015 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels

When the Saints

By Sarah Mian

Sarah Mian is a true storyteller – a poet and short-story writer, the Nova Scotia–based author is also a fixture on CBC Radio’s Definitely Not the Opera. She certainly knows how to spin a good ... Read More »

April 14, 2015 | Filed under: Fiction: Novels