In her sixth book, Girls Around the House, Sidney, B.C., writer M.A.C. Farrant has created an alter-ego in Marion – fiction writer, mother of three teenage children, and wife – who banters and kvetches amiably about domestic life. Farrant is a veteran practitioner of the gently satirical tale, and a sanguine, breezy tone suffuses these 12 linked dispatches from a fractious home front. Money is scarce, and the bathroom cabinet maker hired by Marion and her husband Gerry turns out to be the contractor from hell. Mother-in-law Nana lives directly below the conjugal bedroom, making uninhibited displays problematic, Marion goes on a demoralizing author tour in Australia, and the kids just want to party and stay in “Skidney” for the rest of their lives. Marion occasionally professes to having a writerly fascination for what she refers to as the darker aspects of life – for “crud” as she eloquently puts it – but it’s never clear what she means by this.

The final story, “Ritardando,” describes a dinner party, attended by the extended family, in celebration of Nana’s 82nd birthday. Between the main course and the dessert, Marion experiences a golden moment in which time seems to slow and bend itself to the promise of an eternal and harmonious present. When a family member relates the story of a couple from Toronto who pays $1,400 to a Mexican family for a Chihuahua puppy, Marion imagines the family using the money to emigrate to the U.S. in the hope of forging a better life for themselves. And then Marion has her vision, her writerly leap. In fact, Marion seems quite taken with her imaginative prowess. What to make of Marion’s smugness? With their unambitious, anecdotal charm, Farrant’s amuse-geules never quite satisfy.