First, I hate deciding what book I love most. Each is unique and special, so ignore the 1-2-3 order in which they’re listed.
I loved this book because of its gentle wit and ability to channel the voice of one of my favorite authors. I always wished that Jane Austen had lived longer and written more, so this little book was a way of enjoying her anew. It’s written as though everything she wrote in her novels had happened in her own life. As an author, I’m often surprised by how events in my own life find their way, cleverly disguised, into my writing.
I loved its heart, humor, and poignancy, qualities that I treasure but which don’t fit into my historical novels about dark times and what it takes to weather them. This book was a balm to my spirit while I was writing my latest novel.
Hidden in an old chest in her brother's attic, Jane Austen's memoirs are uncovered after hundreds of years, bricked up behind an old wall. Written shortly before her death, one volume was preserved immaculately, and its contents both shocked and thrilled readers. Detailing a love affair the author was apparently determined to keep secret, Jane's memoir offers readers untold insights into her mind and heart. Many rumours abound about a mysterious gentleman said to be the love of Jane's life - finally, the truth may have been found.
This is a classic novel set in and beloved by readers across British Columbia, where I live. Like all my favorite novels, this one is full of heart.
It led me into the world of First Nations in a way that invited me to live it, too, which is what I love about any of my favorite reads.
I want to get into other minds and understand what and how they see and feel, and this tale of a son taking his dying father on a last journey did just that, recalling lost loves, lost chances, the toll of war, and a tender reconciliation that reminds me that we can always heal when we open ourselves to possibility.
In these difficult times when I flinch at the news daily, I need stories like this that give me hope and heart.
“A novel about the role of stories in our lives, those we tell ourselves about ourselves and those we agree to live by.” —Globe and Mail
When Franklin Starlight is called to visit his father, he has mixed emotions. Raised by the old man he was entrusted to soon after his birth, Frank is haunted by the brief and troubling moments he has shared with his father, Eldon. When he finally travels by horseback to town, he finds Eldon on the edge of death, decimated from years of drinking.
The two undertake a difficult journey into the mountainous backcountry, in…
Written by one of the US’s great novelists, this book took me straight into the homes and lives of a Native family fighting for both.
It’s gentle, funny, kind, and generous, and it’s based on the true story of how one tribe went all the way to Congress to foil a land grab that would have impoverished its members and destroyed their heritage.
It’s based on Erdrich’s grandfather, a night watchman who rose to the occasion. You’d think it would be depressing, but instead, I felt both cheered up and better educated by this must-read!
In a time when reconciliation and forgiveness are often lost in the melee of anger, violence, and vengeance, this witty and strong-boned novel gave me hope.
It is 1953. Thomas Wazhushk is the night watchman at the first factory to open near the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota. He is also a prominent Chippewa Council member, trying to understand a new bill that is soon to be put before Congress. The US Government calls it an 'emancipation' bill; but it isn't about freedom - it threatens the rights of Native Americans to their land, their very identity. How can he fight this betrayal?
Unlike most of the girls on the reservation, Pixie…
Based on the lives of two legendary Dark Age queens, Brunhilda and Fredegunda, this powerful saga brings to life the ambitions, loves, losses, and deadly schemes of bitter rivals who shaped European history and who eventually entered the realm of myth and fairy tale. Brunhilda was a visionary who sought to recreate the lost Roman Empire; Fredegunda cared only for her own power and maintained it in any way that worked, from seduction to war.
Drawing on contemporary accounts and recent historical research, Hazell leads the reader into an almost forgotten world while illuminating its parallels with today.
The War Queens has been compared to Game of Thrones, but this is not fantasy; it is history writ large.
