Two Tickets to Paradise

Anne Savoie is a youth counsellor in Anjou, Quebec.

The stories in this collection deal with broken relationships,
separation, divorce, and meeting someone new. In the title story, a new
couple wishes to escape on a week’s vacation together. Unfortunately
the man’s friend follows them and their holiday is less than joyous.
“Canyon Nights” takes readers through a couple’s separation and
through what they think of in order to stay together. In “A Wedding by
the Sea,” a student is befriended by another who is bizarre and
unpredictable. The former repeatedly tries to get away from the latter,
unsuccessfully. In “Becoming,” a man wishes to become a fish. He
believes amphibians should never have left the sea, and that we must now
realize this and return.

These stories reflect more reality than fiction. They are pleasant and
some are rather humorous, though they remind us of the present state of
affairs: the high divorce rate, aids, false friends, and so on. Still,
seeing life from the perspective of MacDonald’s characters is
interesting.