Monet's Garden

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson Polytechnical University.

These interconnected short stories centre on the relationships among
adult members of a family. Childhood memories (including those of an
alcoholic father) mix with current crises (illness, death, relationship
problems) for characters on the emotional edge—people who think a lot
about their feelings and their connection with the world. Lent describes
the intimate and mundane details of daily domestic life—the smells,
sounds, and textures his characters experience—in vignettes that are
like verbal sketches of the world around him. Although the stories are
mostly psychological in nature, they are also firmly rooted in settings
with a strong sense of place—whether it be Edmonton and the highways
and truck stops of Western Canada, or the cities and towns of France.
Lent’s skilful writing has the ability to put the reader into both the
emotional and physical landscapes of his characters.