Glorious Frazzled Beings

by Angélique Lalonde, read by Kate Dion-Richard

tagged: short stories (single author), small town & rural, literary, magical realism, family life

Description

Home is where we love, suffer, and learn. Some homes we chose, others are inflicted upon us, and still others are bodies we are born into. In this astounding collection of stories, human and more-than-human worlds come together in places we call home.

Four sisters and their mother explore their fears while teeny ghost people dress up in fragments of their children’s clothes. A somewhat-ghost tends the family garden. Deep in the mountains, a shapeshifting mother must sift through her ancestors’ gifts and the complexities of love when one boy is born with a beautiful set of fox ears and another is not. In the wake of her elderly mother’s tragic death, a daughter tries to make sense of the online dating profile she left behind. And a man named Pooka finds new ways to weave new stories into his abode, in spite of his inherited suffering.

A startling and beguiling story collection, Glorious Frazzled Beings is a love song to the homes we make, keep, and break.

About the Authors

Angélique Lalonde

ANGÉLIQUE LALONDE was the recipient of the 2019 Writers' Trust Journey Prize, has been nominated for a National Magazine Award, and was awarded an Emerging Writer’s Intensive at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her work has been published in numerous journals and magazines. Lalonde is the second-eldest of four daughters. She dwells on Gitxsan Territory in Northern British Columbia with her partner, two small children, and many non-human beings. She holds a Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Victoria.

Kate Dion-Richard

KATE DION-RICHARD currently lives, works and creates on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations with her husband Brett and their many plants. Trained in acting from the University of Victoria and London's Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Kate has worked across the country in several theatre, film, tv and voice productions over the years. Humbled and honoured to voice this incredible piece of writing, she deeply thanks Angelique and Sonya for entrusting her with such meaningful stories.

Awards

Short-listed, Scotiabank Giller Prize

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