Dressing for Hope

Darleen R. Golke is a high-school teacher-librarian in Winnipeg,
Manitoba.

Many of this collection’s 10 stories appear to be based on the
author’s experiences and observations while performing country music
in bars and lounges in Vancouver and small-town British Columbia. The
stories are peopled with an assortment of strippers, musicians, bikers,
and misfits who are engaged in a struggle against loneliness,
dysfunctional relationships, and lack of permanency. The pain and
confusion experienced by these characters are real and oddly touching.
Jackson’s strength as a storyteller resides in her ability to convey
the bleakness of her characters’ lives without sacrificing their basic
humanity.