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The Virgin Spy

by Krista Bridge

This engaging debut collection of nine short stories by Toronto author Krista Bridge contains an assortment of compelling, intriguing, likable, moody, and introspective heroines. Stories in The Virgin Spy focus on domestic life and the female protagonists’ relationships with their girlfriends, boyfriends, grandparents, and mothers. Fathers are frequently absent.

Living mostly in Toronto, the white middle-class protagonists often display a streak of naughtiness, peeping through neighbours’ windows, lying, stealing, housebreaking, and coveting another’s boyfriend. “A Version of Loveliness” revolves around a young girl’s relationship with her grandmother, a woman who has led a full life but now is in decline. In “A Matter of Firsts,” a 13-year-old girl bonds with Ella, her father’s mistress, during three visits to New York while her father attends medical conventions. In “What You Said You Wanted,” Tasha is a promiscuous young woman in her own mind and a portly young woman in her mother’s mind. Her mother subjects Tasha to a weight-loss regimen that goes awry, yet Tasha ultimately finds love and acceptance from a man.

The Virgin Spy contains a lot of “capricious sexuality,” one of Bridge’s many lovely phrases. The young women explore the pleasures and pains that come with first loves and established relationships. They also uncover the mystery of affinity and the restlessness that develops as relationships spark, grow, and sometimes wither. This collection of stories will appeal especially to women, particularly young women, who can sympathize with the characters’ struggles. But everyone should enjoy Bridge’s fine writing, well-drawn characters, and deft use of humour and pathos.

 

Reviewer: Christopher Johnson

Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre

DETAILS

Price: $22.95

Page Count: 212 pp

Format: Paper

ISBN: 1-55365-162-6

Released: March

Issue Date: 2006-4

Categories: Children and YA Non-fiction, Fiction: Short