The Leaving

Susan Patrick is a librarian at the Ryerson Poly-technical Institute.

Many of the short stories in this collection by award-winning author
Budge Wilson feature middle-aged women recalling vignettes from their
childhood, and centre on the relationships between girls and their
parents and between husbands and wives. The stories display great
insight into the turbulence and intensity of the emotions of adolescent
females—love, longing, guilt, and resentment—as they come to terms
with the imperfections of the adult world. Wilson deftly explores the
power structure of family relationships, particularly in dealing with
the themes of domination, control, and repression. The characters are
vividly drawn, and the stories are rich with the local color of their
Nova Scotia settings.