Music and Silence - Rose Tremain
Feature December 2000
    Set in the Danish court of 1629, Music and Silence follows the trials and tribulations of young lutenist Peter Clare, newly arrived to the King’s Orchestra.
    Winner of the Whitbread Award (for 2000) and from the author of “Restoration” (made into a sumptuous and sleepy film starring drug abuse poster child Robert Downey Jr.), Music and Silence was our December 2000 feature.
    When my book of choice failed to materialise in time, I took a pile of books home to find a replacement. Luckily I picked up Music and Silence and six pages in I couldn’t put it down for the rest of the weekend.
    Poignant, funny with high drama and a unique sensibility, this is the best sophisticated historical novel I’ve read in many, many years.

Marriage of Sticks - Jonathan Carroll
Feature November 2000
   Miranda Romanac is a highly successful individual. Lucky in love, lucky in life. At a high school rereunion she meets a remarkable (if married) man and begins a new life with him. But as in any Carroll novel the frame tilts and she falls into a reality where nothing is what it seems -- or what she remembers. And it could take more than she willing to sacrifice to find the truth.
   I can’t say enough about this author. Amazing, enchanting, frightening, loving and wild. Read him. Read him now.

Sister Wolf - Anne Arensberg
Feature October 2000
   With the lime green spooky gothic cover, there was no other choice for a Halloween feature. Of course, having read some of the author’s work made me take it seriously in the first place.
    The Deym’s are an aristocratic Old World family that landed in small town Maine a generation previous. Marit has carried on her family’s obsession with wild animals and unbeknownst to the locals is building a preserve on her huge estate lands. Reserved and autocratic, Marit’s only close friend is a debutante lesbian from the south (sounds bizarre - but the friendship between these two women is one of the best aspects of the book). Animals are her life until she meets Gabriel Frankman, a teacher at the school that borders her land. A sad twisted one-night stand with a man in deep grief over the loss of his wife opens Marit’s emotional floodgates -- leading to a final tragic end.
    Arensberg is a magnificently quirky author. Her prose is powerful and the insight into her characters staggering . And her humour? Shrewd and sophisticated. The salacious titles of her books aside, (Incubus, Group Sex), this genuine talent is a wonderful discovery.

Italian Fever - Valerie Martin
Feature August 2000
   When her boss is killed in Italy in a freak accident, Lucy Stark must go over and settle the erratic author’s life and property.  Caught up in the mystery of a missing manuscript and dealing with characters beyond her limited experience, Lucy is thrown off kilter -- giving her a chance to transform her life.
    Nothing really dramatic happens in this book, but you really don’t care.  Martin’s languid prose and quiet humour caress us like the motions of a hammock on a warm summer night. Get yourself a good bottle of wine, sit back and enjoy.  From the author of “Mary Reilly" -- another great book, but an unfortunate movie.

One Good Thing - Rebecca Stowe
Feature August 2000
   Defined as an existential mystery, One Good Thing is a darkly comic thriller that has two of the most self-centered, selfish characters that I’ve ever seen anywhere, anytime. What scares you is that you can identify with somebody’s paranoia at some time or other.
   Harry is a writer. Not a productive writer, but dedicated to it nonetheless. On his fiftieth birthday a body falls past his window and from then on his life (such as it is) spins gently but strangely out of control.

One Hundred and One Ways - Mako Yoshikawa
Feature July 2000
   The blurb on the front cover of this book could have done this excellent novel a great disservice if customers hadn’t trusted us. “Resembles an intelligent cross between the best-selling Memoirs of a Geisha and the Haunted-by-a-lost-love movie Ghost”. O.K. So our heroine Kiki Takehashi sees her lost lover appear quietly (and naked) under her coffee table or in the corner of her kitchen. He never speaks. Just watches her. And o.k. She is looking forward to the visit of her maternal grandmother who was a famous geisha. But it does trivialize a sensitive and moving story as Kiki comes to terms with the loss of her partner and the reconciliation of her family’s heritage against the reality of being non-white in North America.
    Terrific writing, powerful character studies and a wry if bittersweet humour. A testament to not judging a book by its cover.

Incubus - Anne Arensberg
Feature June 2000
   It’s a hot, hot summer in small town Maine (something we can all identify with this year) and women of all ages and types are plagued by erotic nightmares as mysterious as their husbands total loss of sexual desire.  Cora Leiber, the wife of the town’s minister is first to make the connections as crops and people she has known most of her life begin to wither and fade.
    Unlike Anne Rice’s purple prose and gaudy plots, Incubus has a subtle chilling quality that is almost clinical in its approach to evil.  But underneath the sensational plot line (no matter how quietly done) is a deft writing style and beautiful characterization that remind you surprisingly of Jane Smiley, Maeve Binchy and Anne Tyler. Confused? This is a tough review to write because there is absolutely no way to lock this author, her style or her plots into any one box. Just read her.

Moonlight On the Avenue of Faith - Gina B. Nahai
Feature May 2000
   Set in the Jewish Ghetto of Tehran, Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith tells the story of one family and the curse that drives one woman in each generation to flee her home transforming her own life and all others who touch her.
   My best book of 2000. We’ve sold more since it was our feature than when we had it at 20% off! It is my first recommendation whenever asked. An evocative cover, a stunning literary style, searing characterization. Absolute magic.

Chocolat - Joanne Harris
Feature April 2000
   Long before they turned this enchanting book into a movie (just saw it and much better than expected - Pat) this was one of my true fave’s. Set in the small French Village of Lansquenet, Chocolat tells the story of a mother and daughter who arrive on the wind to open up a chocolate shop - across the street from the church - on the first day of Lent. Touching each customers life with love and warmth (not to mention killer sweets) she quietly fights the control the village priest exudes over his parishioners.

Miss Garnet's Angel - Sally Vickers
Feature March 2000
   This month’s feature is a quiet, gentle book that shyly steals your heart away.
   Miss Julia Garnet is a retired schoolteacher mourning the death of her one close friend. Throwing caution to the winds, she books a six months stay in a campo in Venice. A huge step for the reticent Garnet, she pushes through years of ascetic atheism as she marches with deliberate determination through the beginnings of her stay in the fabled city. But the city and the architecture itself conspires against her – throwing her into contact with a seductive environment and characters that sweep into her ordered life with careless abandon. Haunted on all sides by the story of Tobias from the Book of the Apocrypha in the Bible – she is drawn into a parallel journey that awakens her hungry spirit to a rich transformation.
   Salley Vickers is a subtle yet generous author. She assembles a collection of characters like a basket of onions that are deftly peeled through Julia’s changing perceptions. The sub story of Tobias and his travels show a wit and contemporary narrative at sweet odds with the slow stately progress of the main characters evolution. With two such charming and poignant guides -- Julia Garnet and the irascible Tobias, we travel a path that sheds light on our own.
   Beautiful and thought provoking, Miss Garnet’s Angel is a wonderful read for a hot August weekend.

The Widow Killer - Pavel Kohout
Feature February 2000
    Pavel Kohout's novel of the investigation into a serial killer terrorizing occupied Prague at the end of W.W.II is a fascinating look into Czechoslovakian culture and the beginnings of the Communist Party in that country. Translated from Kohout's native Czech he captures the resignation of his people to a long arduous occupation and the changes that are on the horizon. This political background in no way detracts from a gripping plotline worthy of Ian Rankin or Minette Walters. An amazing story and an excellent translation. Highly, highly recommended.

No Great Mischief - Alistair MacLeod
Feature January 2000
   A lot has been written about this book since it was first published two years ago. Well known and well thought of for his wonderful collection of short stories (wow, just fourteen in all) there was some question that the novel he took almost ten years to write would be worth it. Hindsight now teaches critics to be more humble. No Great Mischief is a spectacular novel. The story of a Cape Breton family told with the strong backdrop of history, gentle humour and a love for the land that the family mines, No Great Mischief is The Great Canadian Novel you’ve been waiting for. Don’t argue – just read it.