Division of Surgery

Hugh Oliver is editor-in-chief at the OISE Press.

This autobiographical novel, set in Toronto and in Quebec’s Eastern
Townships, makes skilful use of flashbacks to evoke the life of its
heroine, a woman in her late 20s/early 30s afflicted with Inflammatory
Bowel Disease. That it is not clear where autobiography ends and fiction
begins seems irrelevant. Pervading the novel is the woman’s suffering
(the humiliation of the disease, the pain of multiple surgery) and,
ultimately, her courage and determination to survive. Subsidiary
characters include her parents, lovers, husband, children, and the
ever-present doctors. The conclusion (an abortion at the Morgentaler
clinic on Toronto’s Harbord Street) is not entirely satisfactory, but
it’s hard to think of one that would be. All in all, a powerful book.