The Promise

Nora D.S. Robins is co-ordinator of Internal Collections at the
University of Calgary Libraries.

Wanda Blynn Campbell is a young American writer who immigrated to Canada in the late sixties and who has lived, since 1974, in La Macaza in Northern Quebec.

The Promise is a collection of twelve short stories set in Northern Quebec. It is the Quebec of the working class, of the Polish, Czech, German, and British immigrants, of the Métis and the Indians.

These stories are so powerful that it is difficult to review the collection objectively. Each is a finely crafted gem, often sad, sometimes humorous. They are written with such concrete, sensual language and sharp image-bearing detail that the reader not only sees and hears about the experiences of the protagonists but also sees and shares in the emotions evoked by the descriptions.

Campbell’s stories have been favorably compared with those of Flannery O’Connor, as “intense… with faint hints of hope and humor in situations rife with grim pathos.” Campbell’s output has been small; one looks forward to more of her short stories.