As the author of one of the stories (Journey into the Vortex) in this anthology of fiction by Canadian women, with scholarly articles on each story by prestigious Canadian academics, I cannot claim complete objectivity in this review. However, I can honestly say that contributing to this book on women's spirituality has been one of the most creative and uplifting experiences in my life as a writer.

The book had the usual gestation period that good books have, especially those involving several editors, several story-tellers, several poets and an equivalent number of scholars. However, as attested by Jo-Ann Elder in her foreword to the section "Voices": "This project combined life and art in mysterious ways" and here Elder is referring to the passing away of her parents and giving birth to two sets of twins in the intervening years, which did not stop her from producing this fine book. Every year Elder would ask contributors to hang in there, while expressing understanding if they felt like taking their stories elsewhere. I, for one, hung in there, because the idea of writing a spiritual story and having it commented on by a religious studies scholar in another part of the country was very appealing. I'm grateful to Elder for kindly stating in her foreword: "I will not deny the pleasure that Maya Khankhoje's story gave me, from the first time I read it. Whether they come from a Native woman -- in both senses of the word -- of another country, like Maya,..." There is a wealth of impressions and insights in Elder's foreword, just as there is serious scholarship and analysis in O'Connell's Further Foreword to the section "Echoes".

There are thirty-three pieces in this collection and each one, be it a poem or short story, is accompanied by an article putting the piece in a cultural, historical and spiritual context. The authors of the creative pieces are all women, whereas the scholars are both men and women and they come from different parts of Canada and from different spiritual, cultural and religious traditions. Some are experienced writers like Lorna Crozier, Di Brandt and Ann Copeland and some are fresh new voices, but their stories are all about the quest for meaning and spirituality in their lives.

This book will appeal to both men and women who simply enjoy good fiction as well as to the scholar who wishes to gain an insight into modern women's spirituality. I need say no more. Take the time to listen to these women's voices for they will resonate in your heart.

Thomas O'Grady's first collection of poems will not disappoint those who have followed his appearances in periodicals. The poems deal in a profound way with real questions, of which the most dominant is the theme of exile from the poet's native Prince Edward Island. There will no doubt be considerable resentment on the part of programmatic readers who hate either the subject matter of family life or the skilled use of fixed forms. Others will find little to object to. The workmanship is fine and the learning vast. O'Grady captures the speech patterns of the Irish diaspora far more accurately and artfully than the bogus and infinitely popular Frank McCourt. The book satisfies the reader in itself and promises other wonderful collections in the future.

It's forty below in the Northwest Territories of Canada - so cold the ravens won't fly & Richard can't go outside. He decides to ask his family & friends the question that became the title to this book. Their answers bring a whole other world into light. Brilliantly illustrated by George Littlechild from the Plains Cree Nation, this humorous quest of a youngster's mind during a long winter's day, brings out the silly & the insightful. Makes a lovely gift!

Janette Oke has done an amazing job of bringing to life the history of the Canadian West! "When Breaks the Dawn" depicts the trials faced by the law enforcement officers (Mounties) on the harsh frontire but it also intricately entwines elements of Christ's gracious provision and protection as Wynn and Elizabeth Delaney work and interact in the small northern community of Beaver River. It will touch your heart and move you to laughter and tears as you join Elizabeth in her ventures as a school teacher and share her pain of the lack of a child. You will worry with her as Wynn is out on duty and become an accomplice in her stuggles. Each moment reading this book is to be savored and will be thoroughly enjoyed.

Mrs. Oke tells a wonderful tale in this conclusion of the Canadian West series. You feel as if you are right there with Elizabeth as she struggles to make friends in the Indian village.

When Rivers Speak is an impressive anthology of the poetry by James Deahl, and clearly documents him as a master wordsmith whose poetry is as memorable as it is articulate. Dark Waters: Frost has turned the goldenrod white,/almost like snow;/the barest flush of early dawn/lies on the Thames./On the path to town I watch/migrating mallards/drift out across the icy water;/mere ripples of black./There is no other movement/just these ducks,/dark dots bobbing on dark waters/turning the world.

Jeannette Armstrong's novel Whispering in Shadows has a strong protagonist in the character of Penny. Penny is a Native of the Okanagan Nation (like the author of the book) and is a mother of three, an artist and an activist. Throughout the novel, Penny comes face to face with the struggles of Native, or Indigenous, people throughout North America. Whether she is in the forests of Western Canada or in the desolate Mayan communities in Mexico, or even trying to get a job, Penny sees first hand the battles that Native people have to fight, from trying to keep what is theirs to trying to survive as a people. As a Native American reading the novel, some of the situations that are described strike a chord of remembrance, as one or more of Penny's experiences are things that we have all been through, from racism to protecting our land. I would also highly recommend this book to non-Native readers, so that they could try to understand the struggles that we face.

this book is great because it includes all the things we need to know no matter which plan we are following. It has calories, carbs, fats as well as sugars. I have not seen it in any other book. It is highly recommended by my counselor at Lindora.

Bolster has approached "Alice" and one cannot help but feel that she has let the reader in on a secret between the girl/woman and the man who immortalized her. The secret, however, is a universal secret, and so, the reader is not left wondering what it all means (just some of it!).

Her mastery, then, is that she brings the reader into a secret, private world, and in so doing, brings the reader to him or herself, as well as to the poet -- something not easily accomplished in poetry.

I first encountered "Whylah Falls" in my first year university English class several years ago. It has since, never left my bedside. It has since, never left my own mind as I continue to develop my own style. I was lucky enough to be attending the best university in eastern Canada, where Clarke actually visited our class and discussed the book. I asked him "How is it possible to maintain such intense expressive inspiration over 153 pages?" He replied that for him, the inspiration has never left him when writing the book, and remains with him everyday. And its true. George Elliot Clarke is Atlantic Canada's most inspired writer today. And this book is the beginning his era.

The story surrounds the Clemence family living in the fictional village of Whylah Falls, Nova Scotia, on the not quite fictional Sixhiboux River (see the actual Nova Scotian River The Sissiboo). The return of the wayward poet X to Whylah Falls triggers events the move the family and the village folk from poetic lust (Selah), romance (Pablo and Amarantha) and tragedy (the Death of Othello). A tragedy, I might add, of Sophoclean and Shakespearean proportions but without Sophoclean or Shakespearean pretentions-- which are lost within the sincere context of the character's simple and sweet rural maritime lives.

I especially enjoy "The River Pilgrim: A Letter" which is Clarke's ode to his own influences-- Ezra Pound and his bluesy rendering of Li Po's "The River-Merchant's Wife". And Clarke is able to create literary snap shots of the surrounding landscape, religious spirituals and love in pieces like "Each Moment in Magnificent", "solitude", "A Perspective of Saul", "Revelations" and "To Pablo".

Clarke tells the story through inspired poetry and prose which is bluesy, bold, and as intoxicating and compelling as the dark rum drank by he Othello. His writing speaks with a tongue that can only be understood with the heart and history of a maritimer. But for those non-Atlantic Canadians, this book puts Clarke's own past into words. He puts the frozen history of African-Canadian experience in Nova Scotia in motion for everyone to experience and know, if only for a short while.

His characters, speak not for themselves, but for the ages-- times lost in the rural life for Atlantic Canadians.