City of Orphans

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson Polytechnical University.

The short stories in this first collection by Patricia Robertson cover
very disparate situations, places, and characters, from the bleak (a
Polish prisoner in a World War I Canadian internment camp), to the
fantastic (the new mother whose mind is taken over by memories of a
woman from a previous era and culture), to the slice of life of the
charming, no-good father whose wanderlust causes him to leave his wife
and children so that he can chase the illusive dream of the good life in
1950s Canada. The themes of death, illness, dismemberment, and
disillusionment feature strongly in these stories. Characters’ minds
often drift off into flights of fancy, and the romantic longings of the
middle-aged clash with and are dashed by the harsh realities of youth.
Robertson writes with a vivid imagination for both the ordinary and the
out-of-the-ordinary, but her characters’ lives are tinged with a
sadness and a sense of futility that will certainly touch the reader.