Make Believe Love

Ellen Pilon is a library assistant in the Patrick Power Library at Saint
Mary’s University in Halifax.

Joan Swift is the librarian in Broken Head, Saskatchewan. Darwin
Goodwin, from nearby Venus, Alberta, is an obsessed fan of
Saskatchewan-born Hollywood starlet Stephanie Rush. Jason Warwick is an
ambitious reporter with the local newspaper, who wants to write a book
about the crazy Darwin and his relentless stalking of the actress.
Jason, although married, has a secret affair with Joan to get all the
details about Darwin. He then urges Joan, who bears a striking
resemblance to Stephanie, to impersonate Stephanie in order to entice
Goodwin into telling his side of the story to her. As Darwin’s
extraordinary tale of love unfolds, his pathetic adulation of Stephanie
becomes more credible than Joan’s affair with Jason, and by the end it
is Joan and Darwin who appear to be the crazy ones.

This brilliantly quirky novel is full of surprises that readers will
enjoy figuring out. Lee Gowan’s style of writing, which is
characterized by understatement and sarcasm, is delightful. Gowan, who
hails from Swift Current, Saskatchewan, has published short stories and
poetry in numerous periodicals and has twice been nominated for National
Magazine Awards. Make Believe Love was nominated for the 2002 Trillium
Book Award.