Ice and Fire

Bruce Grainger is head of the Public Services Department, Macdonald
Library, McGill University.

This collection of 31 essays or personal stories was written over a
10-year period. Although a few of them are set outside Canada, most are
situated within a wide range of geographic settings in all regions of
the country. People and especially places are the main focus of the
author’s attention. Osborne is capable of keen observations, apt
descriptions, and some depth of feeling, such as when he describes his
visit with the mother of a deceased friend and colleague in her Nova
Scotia home, or driving on the Trans-Canada Highway during a blizzard.
However, all too often the overall effect of the stories is flat and
disappointing. The author seems especially sensitive to the extremes of
Canadian weather, which may explain his choice of title; unfortunately,
along with the ice and fire, there is considerable drizzle.