National Network for Equitable Library Service

Secrets aren’t good for families. — from “Big Luck Island” In The Left-Handed Dinner Party and Other Stories—a collection of new, delightful, distinctive short stories—everyone is missing something or someone; every family is riven by secrets and absences. From “The Remedy,” a tale of revenge and justice, to “The Smart Sisters,” a story of tricky family dynamics, Coulter’s narratives portray relationships, loss, and what we learn in the aftermath of death. Ghosts, echoes, memories, regrets...Coulter’s characters are haunted in many ways.

Through mesmerizing forays into characterization, voicing, and narrative technique, and with a clean economy of style rare even in short fiction, Astrid Blodgett conjures the moral and existential freight of her fully fledged characters in the throes of realistic moments. From the fascinatingly unhinged hero of "Getting the Cat," to the dreamy survey of prairie landscape and childhood experience of "New Summer Dresses," to the fatal irony of "Ice Break," readers will be hooked from first sentences and carried along on crisp prose.

I woke up with Moses Henry’s boot holding open my jaw and my right eye was looking into his gun barrel. I heard the slow words, “Take. It. Back.” I know one thing about Moses Henry; he means business when he means business. I took it back and for the last eight months I have not uttered Annie Mukluk’s name. In strolls Annie Mukluk in all her mukiness glory. Tonight she has gone traditional. Her long black hair is wrapped in intu’dlit braids. Only my mom still does that. She’s got mukluks, real mukluks on and she’s wearing the old-style caribou parka.

Un sourire de reconnaissance attendrie apparaîtra sur les lèvres du lecteur. Pourtant, la surprise l’attend au détour. Entre le poisson rouge magique – énigmatique et sans âge – aux réunions de famille, la passion et la souffrance d’amants et d’amis, et l’incertitude de vacances à Paris, cet exquis recueil de nouvelles plaira et enchantera à coup sûr. Ce recueil avait reçu le prix Marian Engel (1990).

Death may seem a grim subject matter but, in the capable hands of Suzanne Myre, nothing is beyond humour. Though at times sincere, sorrowful, and even a tad gruesome, Death Sentences is also wry, mordant, and amusingly ironic.Death Sentences features 13 unique short stories, thematically united by death, sex, and existential angst. Solitary and dejected characters explore Montreal’s parks and alleys, seeking comfort and contending with their own everyday tragedies. A woman contemplates the deadly consequences of an almond croissant; another escapes her worries in a monastery.

Cloudburst is a milestone in Canadian literature. For over a half-century, beginning with the Spanish Civil War and continuing through the coups d’état and military repression in South and Central America in the 1970s and 80s, Spanish-speaking writers have been arriving in Canada as exiles and immigrants and have been creating new works in their native language. Cloudburst is the first anthology of short stories by Hispanic Canadian writers from across Latin America and Spain to appear in English.

This is a collection of the published and previously unpublished short stories by Thomas Murtha, a Canadian writer born and raised in Ontario. Murtha was one of the notable experimental writers of the 1920s, but his work has been largely ignored by literary historians. Thomas Murtha was a classmate and colleague of other notable Canadians including former prime minister Paul Martin, Morley Callaghan, and Raymond Knister. Callaghan, Murtha, and Knister greatly influenced each others' work.

From the Canadian Short Story Library, twelve stories from Desmond Pacey, a major figure in Canadian Literature and criticism. The twelve stories are typical of Pacey's story-telling technique and what emerges from them is a distinctive, even powerful optimism, charity, tolerance and deep understanding of human nature. The sombre side of life is honestly portrayed and juxtaposed against the importance of love as a unifying force.

Un jeune garçon avale les pages de cinq livres dans lesquels croit-il, se trouve le code qui pourrait permettre à un capitaine et à ses acolytes de retracer son père disparu. Afin de sauver sa vie, un explorateur se voit contraint de raconter à la tribu amérindienne qui le retient prisonnier les histoires qu'il connaît, qu'il crée ou qu'il combine. Une femme ravissante se plaît à réinventer sa propre histoire lors des soirées mondaines. Perdu sur les glaces à la dérive dans l'Atlantique Nord, un autre explorateur est tourment. Par les sempiternelles questions d'un enfant.

Un prétendu éditeur découvre un mystérieux coffre rempli de manuscrits. C'est là le prétexte pour retracer les pas de personnages associés à la famille Ashfaq, issue de la bourgeoisie musulmane d'une ville indienne dévastée par les émeutes religieuses des années 1990. Au fil des nouvelles de ce recueil, le lecteur voyage en Inde, en Birmanie, en Angleterre, en République tchèque, au Groenland, aux États-Unis et au Canada, de la Seconde Guerre mondiale à aujourd'hui. Il y découvre une gamme de personnages et de sociétés aux prises avec la violence et l'oppression.