Green Music

Theresa Paltzat is the Smart Search librarian at the Edmonton Public
Library.

Lucid dreaming, anthropomorphism, shape-shifting, homelessness, a
pre-technology tropical paradise. Veteran short-story writer, essayist,
and playwright Ursula Pflug weaves together all of these elements in her
debut novel.

At the centre of Green Music is Marina, both a person and a place.
Marina the woman struggles through life, homeless and lost, her mind and
soul split between her life in Toronto and Marina the place, an
alternate world created by her beloved grandfather. Her friend Susan is
a painter who dreams of a tropical paradise and, in the process, paints
a gateway from Toronto to Marina. Through her dreams, Susan is able to
see Marina and make contact with one of its residents.

The village itself is quite unique, created by people who had drowned
in the other world but found themselves alive and healthy in this beach
settlement. The influence of turtles can be seen everywhere in Marina,
but the turtles no longer come to visit. In years past, the villagers
had the ability to shape-shift with the turtles, but the practice has
become taboo; a sense of loss and grief surrounds many of the older
villagers who have lost their turtle partner.

Filled with elements of magic realism and a sense of not belonging,
Green Music will appeal to those who appreciate a mixture of fantasy and
dark reality in their fiction.