In the Belly of the Sphinx
In the Belly of the Sphinx
Joanna McFarlane-Frampton
, Jude Castillo
, Sandra Furlotte
, Sarah Schwartz
, Patricia Johnson
, Linda Leitch
, Marilyn Stanley
, Chris Carvalho
, Marissa Yip-Young
, Rhona Brinkman
, Margo Beredjiklian
, Gwynn Scheltema
, Deana Bueley
, cassandra schiemann
, Deb Philippon
, Barry Kazimer
, Lisa Ostrowski
, Mary Therrien
, Emelie Pendergast
, Agnes Marshall
, Heather Norris
, Melissa Poremba
, Vanessa Seto
, Natasa Ilic
, Andrea Gillespie
, Lisa Bilodeau
, Alliah Belza
, Joshua Lewis
, Noelle Walsh
, Elaine Baptie
, Julie Kaniak
, Linda Ham
, Gabrielle Wolfe
, Haley Spencer
, Andrea Pole
, Tyra Antle
, Remi Gunn
, Alex Henderson
, Joe Mitchell
, Meaghan Krygier
, Christy Verveer
, Paula Adam
, Sandra Perry
, Andrew Taylor
, Rose Ghaedi
, Georgia Aliphtiras
, Trish Bowering
, Jennifer Beyak
, Anne Range
, Lynn Hallson
, Kim Cappellina
, Deborah Kennedy
, Melinda Poth
, Deanna Carney
, Joanne Epp
, Rosa Cross
, Jessica Murray
, Rodney Cross
, Heather Belliveau
, Marla Schecter Howard
, Candace Fertile
, M M English
, Angela Mitchell
, C. Ray
, Nancy Reid
, Dana Francoeur
, diana kirkwood
, Judith Pearson
, Jay Rawding
, Sharon Bird
, Rachel Edmonds
, Brenda Vaccarello
, Patricia McKeown
, Penelope Penner
, Karen Nordrum
, Prabh Toor
, Kathleen Hutchison
, Esther VanGorder
, Paula Ritchie
, Debbie Youngman
, Huguette Lemieux
, Susan Fitzgerald
, Randi Ann Doll
, Darlene Foster
, Karen Kendrick
, Marin Beck
, Maureen Brownlee
, Rhona Brinkman
, Susan Terendy
, Penny Gilman
, Lisa Mallia
, Robert Hykawy
, Mary Lester
, Denise Duvall
, Mary Danieli
, Christine Lion
, P. Thompson
, Janice Cournoyer
, Pam Keetch
, Mary Ellen Havlik
, Nora Gould
, Diane O'Flaherty
, Hayley Chandler
, Amanda Schempp
, Barbara Leckie
, Benita Hartwell
, Anna Krentz
, Carrie Morris
, Claudie Léveillé
, Cathy L Brown
, Susan Baues
, finn mulryan
, Margaret Lindo
, Claire Gear
, Charlotte Gray
, PATRICIA SOPEL
, Alice Meems
, CAROLINA FAMILIA
, Vivian Thorgeirson
, Anne Baldo
, Hoda Montazeri
, Janet Miller
, Leila Grobel
, Laura Patterson
, Amie Gaudet
, Adrienne Stevenson
, Lise Gaston
, carolyn redl
, Rhonda Struthers
, Alissa Bender
, Lynn Andrews
, Vicki Bedford
, Pamela Roberts Griffith
, Kat Sommer-Derksen
, Katherine Krige
, Lynn Bechtel
, Donald Forsythe
, Rita O'Sullivan
, Rachel Lutz
, Ken Gilmour
, Marilyn Boyle
, Pamela Bruce
, Sara Conway
, Debra Fisher
, Beth Dekoker
, Leslie Vermeer
, Catherine Desaulniers
editor@49thShelf.com
Smart, stubborn, and forthright Pearl Greyland-Smith is nine years old when we first meet her, in 1882. She lives with her widowed mother, Florence, in Victoria’s James Bay neighbourhood. Pearl’s father was a Hussar who died in Afghanistan, or that’s what Florence has always told Pearl. But when an Irish woman named Cassidy arrives at their door and addresses Florence as Sinead, Pearl begins to realize she may not know very much about her origins at all.
An avid reader with a rich inner life, as Pearl grows up she nonetheless confronts the scarcity of choices available to women. Yet while lacking in certain amenities, Pearl and Florence’s days are anything but dull, populated by characters easily at home in a Dickens novel: the earnest and enigmatic amateur scientist Charles Gloster, their bawdy, theosophist housemaid Carpy, inspector Osmo Beattie, and imperialist newspaper columnist Harry Hearne. Then a fateful encounter at a solstice fête throws Pearl’s whole future into question.
