In this brilliant new collection she takes mainly the lives of women - unruly, ungovernable, unpredictable, unexpected, funny, sexy and completely recognisable - and brings their hidden desires bubbling to the surface. The love of a good woman is not as pure and virtuous as it seems: as in her title story it can be needy and murderous. Here are women behaving badly, leaving husbands and children, running off with unsuitable lovers, pushing everyday life to the limits, and if they don't behave badly, they think surprising and disturbing thoughts.

    Predictably, and almost immediately, his name retreated to the footnotes of history. And yet, as Wayne Johnston makes plain in his epic and affectionate fifth novel, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, Smallwood's life was endearingly emblematic, an instance of an extraordinary man emerging at a propitious moment. The particular charm of Johnston's book, however, lies not merely in unveiling a career that so seamlessly coincided with the burgeoning self-consciousness of Newfoundland itself, but in exposing a simple truth--namely, that history is no more than the accretion of lived lives. Born into debilitating poverty, Smallwood is sustained by a bottomless faith in his own industry. His unabashed ambition is to "rise not from rags to riches, but from obscurity to world renown." To this end, he undertakes tasks both sublime and baffling--walking 700 miles along a Newfoundland railroad line in a self-martyring union drive; narrating a homespun radio spot; and endlessly irritating and ingratiating himself with the Newfoundland political machine. His opaque and constant incitement is an unconsummated love for his childhood friend, Sheilagh Fielding. Headstrong and dissolute, she weaves in and out of Smallwood's life like a salaried goad, alternately frustrating and illuminating his ambitions. Smallwood is harried as well by Newfoundland's subtle gravity, a sense that he can never escape the tug of his native land, since his only certainty is the island itself--that "massive assertion of land, sea's end, the outer limit of all the water in the world, a great, looming, sky-obliterating chunk of rock." The Colony of Unrequited Dreams bogs down after a time in its detailing of Smallwood's many political intrigues and in the lingering matter of a mysterious letter supposedly written by Fielding. However, when he speculates on the secret motives of his peers, or when he reveals his own hyperbolic fantasies and grandiose hopes--matters no one would ever confess aloud--the novel is both apt and amiable. Best of all is to watch Smallwood's inevitable progress toward a practical cynicism. It seems nothing less than miraculous that his countless disappointments pave the way for his ascension, that his private travails ultimately align with the land he loves. This is history resuscitated. --Ben Guterson

    This is a story about justice, and terrible injustices, a story about a murder, and a courtroom drama as compelling as any thriller as it unravels the events that put Yvonne Johnson behind bars for life, first in Kingston's Federal Prison for Women until the riot that closed it, and presently in the Okimaw Ochi Healing Lodge in the Cypress Hills. But above all it is the unforgettable true story of the life of a Native woman who has decided to speak out and break the silence, written with the redeeming compassion that marks all Rudy Wiebe's writing, and informed throughout by Yvonne Johnson's own intelligence and poetic eloquence.Characters and events spring to life with the vividness of fiction. The story is told sometimes in the first person by Rudy Wiebe, sometimes by Yvonne herself. He tracks down the details of Yvonne's early life in Butte, Montana, as a child with a double-cleft palate, unable to speak until the kindness of one man provided the necessary operations; the murder of her beloved brother while in police custody; her life of sexual abuse at the hands of another brother, grandfather and others; her escape to Canada - to Winnipeg and Wetaskiwin; the traumas of her life thatled to alcoholism, and her slow descent into hell despite the love she found with her husband and three children.He reveals how she participated, with three others, in the murder of the man she believed to be a child abuser; he unravels the police story, taking us step by step, with jail-taped transcripts, through the police attempts to set one member of the group against the others in their search for a conviction - and the courtroom drama that followed. And Yvonne openly examines her life and, through her grandmother, comes to understand the legacy she has inherited from her ancestor Big Bear; having been led through pain to wisdom, she brings us with her to the point where she finds spiritual strength in passing on the lessons and understandings of her life. How the great-great-granddaughter of Big Bear reached out to the author of The Temptations of Big Bear to help her tell her story is itself an extraordinary tale. The co-authorship between one of Canada's foremost writers and the only Native woman in Canada serving life imprisonment for murder has produced a deeply moving, raw and honest book that speaks to all of us, and gives us new insight into the society we live in, while offering a deeply moving affirmation of spiritual healing.

    1000? Farley Mowat advances a controversial new theory about the first visitors to North America.Mowat's Westviking: The Ancient Norse in Greenland and North America (1965) was highly influential in helping to establish the belief, now commonly held, that the Norse visited North America some 500 years before Columbus. And yet "a worm of unease" plagued Mowat even then, a vague feeling that he hadn't gotten it quite right. He spent the next 30 years in search of a theory that would explain inconsistencies in the archaeological evidence (such as carbon-dated ruins not left by the Inuit, but that predated the arrival of Vikings in Newfoundland by hundreds of years). Now in The Farfarers he asserts that another Indo-European people he calls the "Alban" preceded the Norse by several centuries.Throughout The Farfarers, Mowat skillfully weaves fictional vignettes of Alban life into his thoughtful reconstruction of a forgotten history. What emerges is a bold and dramatic panorama of a harsher age: an age of death-dealing warships and scanty food supply, of long, cold journeys across the night sea into unknown lands."A spellbinding story . . . told by a master storyteller at the top of his form."—The Globe and Mail"The book is a fascinating glimpse of yesteryear and offers brief histories on the Celts, Saxons, Vikings, Inuits, and other peoples of the northern hemisphere. Written in vigorous, picturesque prose."—The Edmonton Sun

    Their language is forbidden, their names are changed to Jeremiah and Gabriel, and both boys are abused by priests.As young men, estranged from their own people and alienated from the culture imposed upon them, the Okimasis brothers fight to survive. Wherever they go, the Fur Queen--a wily, shape-shifting trickster--watches over them with a protective eye. For Jeremiah and Gabriel are destined to be artists. Through music and dance they soar.

    Both in the early stages of their writing careers, they reasoned that nothing could be more conducive to a writerly muse than a gently tumbling-down farmhouse nestled among the rolling hills of the southern Ontario countryside. And they were right. Since that first day they laid eyes upon Stone Orchard and its 50 acres of lawns, perennial gardens, fields of rippling grasses and dense, green woods, it has become much more than a home and a workplace. It has become a refuge for Tiff and Bill, an enduring haven of friendship and love for family, friends and neighbors. And, as they say, if only the walls could talk ...The walls have never talked so eloquently or endearingly as they do in From Stone Orchard, a collection of Timothy Findley's Harrowsmith columns - revised and expanded - plus new writings, all on life at a 19th-century farm just outside of Cannington, Ontario. Here are tales of the farm's past, both distant and recent: the comic coincidences leading to the naming of the swimming pool, and why Margaret Laurence would never dip her toe in it. Or the night dinner party guests went outside in the twilight, dressed like royalty, to watch a herd of majestic deer pass through the gardens.On the eve of their departure from Stone Orchard - it being time for Tiff and Bill to move on - Findley's writings achieve a new poignancy, as a piece of our literary heritage is remembered with humor, affection and magic.Beautifully designed and packaged with lovely woodcut drawings, From Stone Orchard will be a cherished keepsake for Timothy Findley's legions of loyal fans, as well as a treasured gift for anyone whose dreams transport them into the charming landscape of country life.HarperFlamingoCanada

    The author of the critically acclaimed novel In the Language of Love presents a collection of stories illustrated with wood engravings and line drawings from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries which reveal that we are what we worship.

    It is the story of a beautiful young woman who becomes a famous ballerina, but commits suicide when she cannot satisfy one man, who wants her to devote her entire life to her art, and another who loves her, but subjugates her to become his muse and inspiration. She struggles to choose art, but the choice eventually destroys her.Margaret Atwood remembers being devastated by this movie but unlike many young girls of her time, she escaped its underlying message. Always sustained by a strong sense of self, Atwood would achieve a meteoric literary career. Yet a nurturing sense of self-confidence is just one fascinating side of our most famous literary figure, as examined in Rosemary Sullivan's latest biography. The Red Shoes is not a simple biography but a portrait of a complex, intriguing woman and her generation.The seventies in Canada was the decade of fierce nationalist debate, a period during which Canada's social imagination was creating a new tradition. Suddenly everyone, from Robertson Davies to Margaret Laurence was talking, and writing, about a Canadian cultural identity. Margaret Atwood was no exception.For despite her tremendous success that transcends the literary community, catapulting into the realm of a "household name," Margaret Atwood has remained very much a private person with a public persona.Rosemary Sullivan reveals the discrepancy between Atwood's cool, acerbic, public image and the down-to-earth, straight-dealing and generous woman who actually writes the books. Throughout, she weaves the issues of female creativity, authority and autonomy set against the backdrop of a generation of women coming of age during one of the most radically shifting times in contemporary history.ABOUT THE AUTHOR - Rosemary Sullivan was born and raised in Montreal, Qu�bec where she received her B.A. from McGill University. She completed her M.A. at the University of Connecticut and her Ph.D. at the University of Sussex. She has taught at the universities of Dijon and Bordeaux in France, at the University of Victoria, B.C., and at the University of Toronto where she is currently a professor of English. Her academic honours include Killam and Guggenheim fellowships, a Canada-United States-Mexico residency award and a Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute Teaching Residency in India.Sullivan has written poetry, short fiction, biography, literary criticism, reviews and articles. She is the author of Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen, which won the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction, the Canadian Author's Association Literary Award for Non-Fiction, the University of British Columbia's Medal for Canadian Biography, and the City of Toronto Book Award.Sullivan also wrote By Heart: Elizabeth Smart/A Life, which was also nominated for the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction; as well as two collections of poetry, Blue Panic and The Space a Name Makes, which won the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and The Garden Master: Style and Identity in the Poetry of Theodore Roethke. Her writing has appeared in numerous literary journals, books, anthologies, and magazines, including Books in Canada, Brick: A Literary Journal, Canadian Forum, Canadian Literature, Cosmopolitan, Descant, �tudes Anglais, The Globe and Mail, The Malahat Review, This Magazine, Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature, Saturday Night, and Toronto Life. Her work has been broadcast on CBC Radio and on "Imprint," a literary television magazine programme.Sullivan is also the editor of six anthologies of poetry and prose, including Poetry by Canadian Women, Stories by Canadian Women, More Stories by Canadian Women, and Elements of Fiction from Oxford University Press, and co-editor of The Writer and Human Rights from Lester and Orpen Dennys and Doubleday. She has given lectures and readings as well as contributed to conferences across Canada and in the United States, England, France, Belgium, Spain, India, Puerto Rico, and Mexico. A member of the Writers' Union of Canada and a board member of International PEN Canada, Rosemary Sullivan has traveled widely across Europe and Spain and lives in Toronto.Critical acclaim for Shadow Maker '"The great gift of Shadow Maker is the sense of humour and legitimacy it confers on a life that ' by mainstream standards ' must seem unimportant and even wasted." ' Maclean's"Turning the pages of Shadow Maker ' reading through to MacEwen's heart ' is as painful and intense as watching surgery being performed on someone you love. The suspense is electrifying, and the reader's ultimate bonding to the central figure in this book is the crowning triumph of Rosemary Sullivan's skill and compassion. Shadow Maker is not a biography'it is a love affair between every one of its readers and Gwen MacEwen." ' Timothy FindleyHarperFlamingoCanadaAUTHOR TOUR DATESToronto -- Tues., Sept. 8-11; Publicist: Dor� Potter, 416.975.9334Vancouver -- Thurs., Sept. 17; Publicist: Patricia McLean, 604.224.8976Victoria -- Fri., Sept. 18; Publicist: Patricia McLean, 604.224.8976Calgary -- Mon., Sept. 21;Publicist: Cathy Tippett, 403.289.4649WinnipegTues., Sept. 22; Publicist: Rorie Bruce, 204.487.3993Halifax -- Thurs., Oct. 1; Publicist: Claudia Pinsent, 902.826.7558Montreal-- Mon., Oct. 5; Publicist: Rita Schaffer, 514.937.1039

    The Toronto Star calls him "mercilessly observant, funny, caustic and irreverent". To paraphrase Alberto Manguel in The Sunday Times - "Like Dr. Johnson at his insulting best, Mordecai at the top of his form is unsurpassed."Here we have his take on many unforgettable Canadians, heroes, and sinners, including Gretzky, Eddie Quinn and Pete Rose; we see him give a final skewering to his hated quarry, Brian Mulroney (but the NDP leadership fares little better); Woody Allen does not escape, but for Saul Bellow he has warm admiration and his tribute to Gordie Howe is as fond as it is thoughtful; he brings to life London in the 50s and leaves us with life in the Eastern Townships today. He is a storyteller even in his essays, and these are memorable for his character sketches, his sharp ear for dialogue, his unblinkered view of events. Like all great satirists, Richler cares passionately about the society in which we live; it's that love of country, as much as his love of sanity and common sense and his hatred of sacred cows, that underlies these essays.

    This book celebrates the art and life of a remarka ble man. '

    Morgan, the Silver Surfer, Bob Barker, and the Dalai Lama, with cameos by a born-again - dead-again Jesus Christ. Half cartoon and half ritual, Silver asks: Does photography murder us? Is reality itself pornographic? Was Christ's tomb the first pinhole camera? How did television become the mental spin-cycle of North American society? Will Bob Barker lead his audience to spiritual enlightenment through Sanka-induced hallucinations? Why do we feel dead?

    Her writing resonates with the small details in life that are constantly remade in memory and in words -- a story, a garden, an angel of light. Clark's writings range from experimental prose poems to elegy, from lyric to homily. She risks much and never lessens her intensity."More Light is a brilliant neural-poetic headlamp that luminates the minute and truthful particulars of a lush geomorphic garden. The landscape of things and shapes, of course, are words, syllabic synapses, brought back into the body, 'lit from within.' Hilary Clark's poems are scopic in their attention to the bite of words, the tangible detail of a world's earth .... In fact, all of the poems in More Light can be prescribed to restore and quicken our perception and pleasure in the garden of language." --- Fred WahWINNER of the 1999 Pat Lowther Memorial Award for the Best Book of Poetry by a Canadian Woman (published in 1998) WINNER of the 1999 Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry