Double Bond: An Anthology of Prairie Women's Fiction

This is a well-chosen selection of short stories by some of Canada’s most interesting women writers, some already recognized, others emerging on the Canadian literary scene. Although they are all from the prairies, the feminine rather than the regional point of view dominates the volume.

The stories cover a variety of issues. Sandra Birdsell’s “Falling in Love” provides an optimistic analysis of that state of affairs, while Caterina Edwards in “Quirks and Quarks” is bleaker, as is Joan Clark in “God’s Country,” All these are well-wrought, moving stories. Edna Alford is represented by “Companionship,” a story of the bond of empathy between a young girl with bright hopes and a new diamond engagement ring, and a frail 100-year-old woman, a patient in the nursing home where the girl works. Other stories examine the relationship of mother and child. Bonnie Burnard’s “Crush” tells of a teenage girl’s infatuation with a married man, and her mother’s ambivalent feelings as she reprimands her daughter for acting seductively. Brenda Riches’ “Snow Flurries” explores the bond between a mother and a little girl who is beginning to assert her own personality and will. The theme of sexual oppression emerges in two powerful tales: Gertrude Story’s tale of an insensitive father culpable for his daughter’s suicide, and Merna Summers’ description of a man who takes the little daughter on his knee and fondles her while teasing the unemployed father by dangling a job offer before him. More experimental work is the word play of Diane Schoemperlen in “Life Sentences,” and the enigmas of Eunice Scarfe’s dream sequence and Carol Shield’s “Various Miracles: A Roundup.”

There is not room to enumerate all the riches offered by these fifteen writers. Many of the stories

have already appeared in other collections, but together they form a kaleidoscope of compelling women’s voices. The collection discovers the wealth of talent among Canadian writers from the prairies; it will interest both those who follow women’s writing and those looking for stimulating and moving short stories to read.