A Long and Lonely Ride

Susan Patrick is a librarian at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.

Newfoundland author Porter’s short stories are populated by seemingly
ordinary people who on the inside are outsiders on “a long and lonely
ride” through life—the deserted wife, the elderly widow, the wife
and mother who takes on all her family’s problems. These are often
unfulfilled or discontented women who are trapped by their lives, but
who nonetheless find an inner strength within their own characters. The
stories are more like interior monologues (with a strong Newfoundland
flavor in the voices), offering reminiscences and character studies
that, in only a few pages, perfectly illuminate human emotions and
relationships.