The Blood Girls

Lynne Perras teaches communication arts at the University of Calgary.

The Blood Girls opens with a description of Donna Desjardins, an
11-year-old girl from a small town in Manitoba, who begins to bleed from
her palms, feet, and stomach just before Easter. Ensuing from this
mysterious occurrence is a series of events involving the townspeople
and others who are forced to reassess their lives as they try to make
sense of the inexplicable.

The novel features a number of intriguing characters: Daniel Halpern, a
reporter from Winnipeg who is sent to investigate the bleeding
phenomenon thought to be stigmata; Molly Rutabaga, a wise, elderly woman
who befriends Daniel; Virginie Waters, the town doctor, who has taken
over her late father’s practice; and Regina Arnott, the eccentric
niece of Alisha Hukic, who, like her aunt, exhibits what may be
stigmata. In addition to posing questions regarding the nature of
stigmata, the novel explores such themes as the search for (and fear of)
love and intimacy, faith and spirituality, and appearance versus
reality.

The author, a poet, produces consistently lush, evocative prose.
Here’s Daniel recalling his youthful attraction to women: “Sometimes
he felt what he was pleased to call his soul rise from its ribcage and
climb up his throat to lodge in his cerebellum. At these times he could
barely breathe, thinking of kisses the texture of mushrooms, imagining
the way radishes bite back.” In the midst of telling Daniel a story,
Regina notes, “In this town the women are bitter and tannic as
slow-steeped tea but the men are flat beer, spilt beer.” Cook makes
effective use of a mixed format, supplementing Molly’s first-person
narration with transcripts of Daniel’s work notes, interviews with the
townspeople, and excerpts from letters and journals.

Despite these strengths, The Blood Girls is ultimately unsatisfying:
too many questions are left unresolved. That said, Cook is a writer to
be watched.