Colouring the Road

Virginia Gillham is university librarian at Wilfrid Laurier University.

The title of this collection of very short literary pieces is drawn from
the author’s childhood memory of receiving, at the start of Lent each
year, a picture of the rocky road to Calvary. Children were expected to
be extra good during Lent, and for every particularly good deed, such as
saying extra Hail Marys, they were allowed to color one of the stones
along the road (one was expected to color them all by Easter). Donna
Doyle hated Lent, but despite the prodigious efforts of the adults in
her life to spoil it for her, she managed to feel profound joy during
Easter.

The subjects of the 22 “thought bites” that make up this slim
volume are extremely diverse. The thread that holds the pieces together
is that each is a deceptively simple commentary on a routine occurrence
that is part of everyday life. Doyle sees each such happening as a rock
on the road of life. Evoking memories that will strike a chord with
every reader, this is a book for the bedside.