CBC New Brunswick’s Books and Backroads series is back, and readers across the province are invited to come along as we travel to rural communities.
Book clubs in Nackawic, McAdam, Bathurst, Plaster Rock, Port Elgin and Grand Manan read stories from different genres, all with a connection to New Brunswick.
The books were chosen based on suggestions from listeners.
Agony’s Lodestone by Laura Keating, Nackawic Public Library
Readers in Nackawic tackled Laura Keating’s young adult book, Agony’s Lodestone, a horror novella telling the story of a woman who stumbles into a haunted world while searching for her missing sister.
Agony’s Lodestone is set in a fictionalized version of Saint John called Lancaster Falls. The woman enters a haunted forest where time and space are not stable but shift, evocatively representing the emotional state of the characters.
One Indian Summer, by Wayne Curtis, Plaster Rock Public School Library
Readers in Plaster Rock read Wayne Curtis’s novel, One Indian Summer. It tells the story of a young man growing up on a farm on the Miramichi River in the 1950s, and many book club members felt a personal connection to the tale.
In the novel, protagonist Steven Moar is caught between his loyalty to the family farm and his desire for a university education.
As he gets older, the struggle intensifies as he is forced to choose between his love for his family and the land, and the pull toward the city.
Mercy Among the Children, by David Adams Richards, McAdam Public Library
David Adams Richards’s book Mercy Among the Children was read by the book club meeting at McAdam Public Library.
The novel tells a dark, intergenerational story reflecting the character of the province and its people. The story focuses on the interconnected relationships and conflicts existing in much of New Brunswick, following central characters and their families struggling with conflict over many years.
Knife Party at the Hotel Europa, by Mark Anthony Jarman, Port Elgin Public Library
The Books and Backroads book club in Port Elgin read Knife Party at the Hotel Europa by Mark Anthony Jarman. The book’s unfamiliar writing style was the topic of much discussion.
Jarman’s collection of short stories about a man’s trip to Italy after the end of his marriage focuses on losing and finding love. Jarman himself moved to Fredericton from Alberta, and taught creative writing at the University of New Brunswick for 25 years.
He says the book was originally meant to be a novel which is why each short story has the same characters, and “it’s all kind of connected in a way.”
Pelagie: The Return to Acadie, by Antonine Maillet, Bathurst Public Library
The Bathurst book club read award-winning work of renowned Acadian writer Antonine Maillet, who died earlier this year at the age of 95.
Philip Stratford’s translation of Maillet’s Pelagie: The Return to Acadie tells the story of an Acadian widow returning home after the Great Deportation of 1755.
She makes her 3,000-mile, 10-year return journey to Acadie on an ox-drawn cart, picking up other Acadians along the way.
Sea Glass Summer, by Heidi Jardine Stoddart, Grand Manan Library
The Proudest Blue, by Ibtihaj Muhammad, S.K. Ali, Hatem Aly, Grand Manan Library
Sea Glass Summer tells the story of a young girl, Molly, who loves to collect sea glass with her grandmother at the cottage. It is only when she moves away that she realizes how special their bond is.
The Proudest Blue tells the story of Faizah, who is looking forward to the first day of school because it will be her older sister’s first day wearing a hijab. In the children’s book, some students react negatively and the siblings form an unbreakable bond and learn to support one another and be proud of their culture.
