Carol Bruneau, author of six acclaimed works of fiction (most recently,
These Good Hands), brings her finely honed voice to 12 new stories
about shifting concepts of Nova Scotian identity.
In "The Race," a war bride's remarkable life trajectory unfolds as she
competes in an international swim marathon in the Northwest Arm. Strain
erupts between a Haligonian couple in "Burning Times," while they
struggle to keep track of one another, both physically and emotionally,
on an Italian vacation. In "Polio Beach," cousins gather oceanside over
the will of a recently deceased aunt who once saved one of them from
drowning.
Writing with empathy, humour, and linguistic precision, Bruneau follows
characters who find themselves connected to Nova Scotia by birth,
through attempts at escape and new beginnings, or as a temporary resting
place, always carrying with them their own idiosyncratic and complex
definitions of "home."