New ebooks From Canadian Indies
Description
In her vibrant first novel Sisters of Grass, Theresa Kishkan weaves a tapestry of the senses through the touchstones of a young woman's life. Anna is preparing an exhibit of textiles reflecting life in central British Columbia a century ago. In a forgotten corner of a museum, she discovers a dusty cardboard box containing the century-old personal effects of a Nicola valley woman. Fascinated by the artifacts, she reconstructs the story of their owner, Margaret Stuart. Margaret, the daughter of a Native mother and a Scottish-American father, she tries to fit into both worlds. She's taught photography by a visiting Columbia University anthropology student that she falls in love with. With strong, poetic language, Kishkan makes the past reverberate through the present in a richly patterned work celebrating the complexities and joys of life and the sustaining connections of family.
Editorial Reviews
"The archival impetus and historical details of Kishkan's first full-length fiction are appealing ... she can write beautifully about objects and places."
— <i>Geist</i>
"Margaret's life begins to unfold for us — a life steeped in hard work and earthly beauty and gathering toward a promising future ... her story building at last to a strong and unsentimental climax . . . Ends with a bittersweet narrative punch."
— <i>Globe and Mail</i>
"A novel of change and reconciliation, of the confluence of many worlds ... a tremendous accomplishment. ... An astonishing debut ... Sisters of Grass is beautifully understated with a quiet grace that succeeds in transforming the regional to the universal, filling the reader with a sense of the mysteries of the world and humanity that can never fully be resolved."
— <i>Quill & Quire</i> (starred review)
"Nature is an exotic ingredient in this delightful imagined account of a young girl's awakening to womanhood a hundred years ago. Theresa Kishkan's prose is lyrical and exquisite. A book to treasure."
— Edith Iglauer
"Each page is suffused with the fragrance and visual delights of the west ... a natural, lyrical exploration of the senses, with the author's poetic roots evident in every passage."
— <i>Pottersfield Portfolio</i>
