Howard Norman

Wyatt Hillyer was orphaned at 17 and went to live with his aunt and uncle and their adopted daughter Tilda in Middle Economy, Nova Scotia. Wyatt was instantly smitten with Tilda, but too inhibited for those feelings to develop into a relationship. Throughout his life Wyatt was more bystander than protagonist, his fate determined almost exclusively by the actions of others. The novel is in fact a long letter to his 20-year-old daughter, whom he has not seen in years. By sharing his life story Wyatt hopes to bridge a very large gap.

Wyatt was a young adult working in his uncle’s business at the start of World War II. His uncle became obsessed with German U-boats in Canadian waters, and developed a hatred of Germans who had immigrated to Nova Scotia before the war. This ultimately led to a horrific crime with consequences for Wyatt which will impact the rest of his life.

I’m not sure the epistolary nature of the novel worked for me. For the most part the story read more like a novel than a letter, and Wyatt’s relationship with his daughter felt more like a literary device than a real situation. But I enjoyed Wyatt’s story, its many interesting and quirky characters, and the way everything wrapped up at the end.… (más)

An illustrated collection of folk tales featuring birds gathered during a folklore workshop from contributors with roots in Africa, China, Australia, Norway and Sri Lanka. I think they all lost something in translation, and as one contributor put it "The mind has to do a lot of work!" The Chinese tale of a hidden lake where ancestors live on as swans, "The Swan-Scholar's Great Secret" was the highlight for me. The illustrations are lovely, but all of a piece in style, despite the varied cultures being represented.
Read and reviewed September 2021… (más)