Susanna Kearsley conjures one of the most vibrant voices I’ve ever heard in The Winter Sea. It’s so vivid it’s as if a real writer is experiencing this psychic phenomenon, rather than a fictional one. In a twist on the usual time-slip novel, Kearsley interweaves two complimentary tales, one contemporary and one historical, threaded by ancestry. As intricately woven as a Scottish tapestry, with multiple layers of colour and contrast, this novel may propel you to a place where you lose yourself, and begin to wonder, is this possible?
Author, Carrie McClelland settles into a cottage in the village of Cruden Bay, on the northeast coast of Scotland in Aberdeenshire, after being intuitively drawn to the ruins of Slains castle. She’s come hoping to write a novel about the 1707 Jacobites, who planned to sail young King Jamie, the exiled king, from France to Scotland to foil the English plan to unite the two countries under British rule. Fans of Outlander will resonate, and find The Winter Sea just as compelling.
Carrie’s father is an amateur genealogist who’s shared the family tree with his daughter, so she creates a character based on her ancestor, Sophia Paterson. As soon as she begins to write in Sophia’s voice, the words begin to flow. It’s as if Sophia is whispering in Carrie’s ear, and she is but a channel to the truth of what transpired centuries before. I was taken by this fascinating concept as I’m an intuitive writer myself, and to see it accomplished so brilliantly impressed me greatly. Carrie discusses the theory of DNA and ancestral memory with Dr. Weir, a trusted intellectual in the village, who tells her that, “some aspects of our nature, of our temperament, are clearly carried in our genes. And memory, surely, is no more intangible than temperament” (216). He goes on to report that people who are “regressed under hypnosis and recall what they believe are former lives in other bodies, may in fact be nothing more than their remembering the lives of their own ancestors” (217).
In parallel plots, both Carrie and Sophia fall in love and must weather the obstacles enduring love brings.
As a former museum curator, Kearsley brings her knowledge of historical artifacts to the page in detailed, sensory script. She’s won multiple awards including a RITA, the Crime Writers of Canada Arthur Ellis Award, and the National Reader’s Choice Awards. This Globe and Mail, New York Times, and USA Today bestselling author educates and entertains with this riveting romantic drama that sweeps through time to leave the reader breathless.
I breezed through the whopping 509 pages because I just couldn’t put it down. Four times chills rushed up my legs in the closing chapters as Kearsley caught the unravelled threads and knotted them together with such precision I didn’t see it coming.
The Winter Sea is historical fiction layered with the intuitive writing of it. Two heroines, two heroes, and all indelibly linked through lineages, symbols, artifacts, and ancestral memory. See for yourself.
Screenwriter Blake Snyder claims there are only ten types of stories, and I believe him. Given the vast amount of books and films being launched today, that makes it nigh impossible to create an original concept. But JP McLean’s Dark Dreams Series strikes me as something unique. The series begins with the multi-award-winning Blood Mark—a sexy noir crime novel starring a bold, intelligent superhero who seeks justice for her past transgressions despite her strange affliction.
In Blood Mark, we meet three series characters who take turns telling the story: twenty-four-year-old Jane who works at a plant nursery; her best friend Sadie who’s seduced by the kind of cash prostitution offers; and Jane’s love interest, the sexy biker and bar manager, Ethan Bryce. Their stories continue in Ghost Mark as does their love triangle—neither Sadie nor Ethan trust each other—which makes for tense, unending drama.
Abandoned at birth, Jane suffers from vivid blood-red marks that snake around her body, horrific nightmares, and trauma from growing up in the foster care system. She discovers early on that not only are her dreams about real people who are being stalked by a killer, but she’s appearing in these scenes as a shadowy figure.
Her blood marks, given to her in the womb during an ancient Inca ritual, are a form of protection. According to the Inca scholar, Jane is a Witness. As a Witness, she mustn’t act in any way that can change history. But how does one slip in and out of time without changing history? It’s virtually impossible, and one instinctive act of kindness haunts her through both books.
When Jane’s blood marks begin to disappear, she’s left feeling vulnerable. By the time we get to Ghost Mark, not only have Jane’s blood marks completely vanished, she’s now entering her dreams in a visibly translucent form—looking like a ghost, if you will. And to complicate things, people can now see her, and she appears in the dream scene wearing whatever she was wearing, or not wearing, when she fell asleep. After turning up naked in one dream, she starts sleeping fully dressed in jeans, motorcycle jacket, and boots with a hidden knife, in case her narcolepsy catches her unaware. Not only that, Jane discovers a vivid white “escape valve” on the back of her hand that “doesn’t just rewind a dream. When I trace the mark clockwise, it jumps me out of the dream entirely.”
Watch the Thrilling Trailer!
Unique concept? Absolutely.
McLean’s writing is as ingenious as her protagonist, ranging from grunge to snappy repartee to sophistication to laugh-out-loud snarks. My favourite line? “Careful, Ethan. You might just trip over your bravado and land on your ass.” Delivered by Sadie, of course. The plot twists as vividly as Jane’s blood marks. Intelligent stake-raising, mysterious dreams, and a tortuous ordeal in a freezing Alberta museum will have you flipping pages far into the night.
Life is bleak and gritty in this novel, and the Vancouver landscape honestly portrayed. Both Jane and Sadie are scarred by the foster care system. Jane discovers in a dream that Ethan’s scars happened another way. The antagonists are as manipulative, cruel, and evil as you could hope for in a crime novel, and Jane as tough a hero as it takes to put them in their place.
McLean’s first supernatural series, The Gift Legacy, included seven books. I’m hoping “dark dreams” continue to haunt the author, so she continues to write sequels.
Trust me. Ghost Mark is gripping. You won’t put it down till it’s done.
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of reading and reviewing Anne Emery’s latest Irish novel, Fenian Street. You can read the full review in my Reviews. I reached out to Anne with some questions, and she graciously answered them in the following interview.
I’ve set two books in my series in Ireland, one on the West Coast, and the other in the Iron Age midlands (it’s about Old Croghan Man). I’m currently writing book 5 which is taking me back there again. I’ve travelled to Ireland a few times to do research (2005, 2006, 2017) and have threatened to move there many times. I love to walk on the land my characters walk on and feel the energy.Did you travel to Fenian Street yourself to do this research? What kind of research did you do? I loved doing pub research and made one of my characters an old trad player;)
I spend quite a bit of time in Ireland. Members of my family had their origins in several of the Irish counties. My first visit was in the 1980s; a friend and I took the train from Dublin to Belfast in the midst of the euphemistically-named Troubles, i.e., the war. I saw cars being stopped and searched at checkpoints, saw the tanks, and the British soldiers in the streets with their rifles. We were searched whenever we entered the city centre. In later years, I’ve been making yearly trips to Ireland, basing myself in Dublin and visiting other parts of the country. I have friends there, and that certainly adds to the good times.
As for research, I’m a bit of a fanatic. Even at home in Halifax, I’ll drive or walk along the streets to make sure I don’t have a character going the wrong way on a one-way street. I’ll look over a familiar building, and make sure I have the correct architectural style and period. For Fenian Street and my other Irish novels, I spend time in the various locations, taking photos of the streets and buildings, chatting with people there.
My twelfth book, The Keening, was a standalone historical novel. It is set in County Fermanagh between 1595 and 1607, and has a present-day plot as well. For the historical parts, every single line had to be researched. I couldn’t just say, “They went to the castle.” How did they get there? Walk, horse, carriage? I read dozens of books, even more articles, had interviews with professors, archaeologists, curators, and others, in person and online. And I received great assistance from the librarians in Enniskillen. When I told a friend here about my plans for the book, he said, “By the time you finish, you’ll have a PhD.” Meaning I’d have done as much research as I would for a doctorate. And he was right; it was way more research than I had done for my masters degree. When The Keening was launched, my husband and daughter sent me flowers with a card: “Congratulations on your PhD in Irish History!” And, like you, I’ve done a whack of “pub research” in my day!
I see you have contacts in the Garda Siochana. Did you just reach out to them? What was it like writing a Garda’s life?
I am very grateful to the owner of an Irish bar here in Halifax (where I’ve had several of my book launches). He had met Liam, the retired Garda detective, when the detective visited Halifax and stopped in at the bar. So, I had an introduction, and Liam and I corresponded by email for two years. He was enormously helpful with all my questions about the Garda, police culture and procedure in Ireland, and so much more. Then, on my most recent trip to Dublin, I offered to treat him to supper or drinks, and we agreed to meet. On my way to the bar, I asked myself, “How will I know him from the other fellas in the bar?” Turned out, there was no question who was the garda in the room: I copped on to him, so to speak, right away! I had some great times in Dublin with him and his wife, and I look forward to seeing them again.
Dialect. You use dialect so well, I was instantly transported to Dublin. I jotted down a list in the back of the book of all the ways to talk alcohol;) What was it like writing an entire book in dialect? How did you get it right?
Thank you for those kind words!
Writing dialogue is my favourite part of the process. I could spend hours with a group of people and not remember a thing about what they wore. But I can recount conversations, often word-for-word, and I can remember the cadences and the tones of voice. And I’ve had lots of conversations in Ireland. Take a train from, say, Dublin to Cork, and the person beside you will keep the chat going for the full two and a half hours, all of it entertaining. I’ve stayed in touch with a couple of people I met during train rides, made friends that way.
Spending all that time in Ireland affords me a familiarity with various dialects and, whenever I’m in doubt about a word or phrase, I’ll search for it on Google, to see if I can find it on an Irish site, to make sure it’s genuine. Currently, Fenian Street is being done as an audiobook by an actor originally from Dublin, Ashley O’Connell, so he’s well able for all those Dub voices!
I have one friend near Waterford and based my characters loosely off some young women my daughter lived with when she stayed in Galway to work for a year in 2005. And I have another friend near Glasgow I run lines by when my books take me to Scotland. Did you run your story by someone for a dialect check? Did you start thinking in Shay’s voice? I can sure hear it in the text. I’d be dreaming in dialect. Did you?
Yes, I do hear the characters’ voices in my head, whether I’m awake or dreaming. When a character says something in the Irish language – as Gaeilge – I always check with one of the professors in the Irish Studies program here at St. Mary’s University. He has been a great help to me in my writing.
How does being a lawyer affect your views? Given you write politically pro-Republican have you ever been criticized for your characters’ views or actions?
Oh, yes, being a lawyer has had a great influence on my writing. One of my main characters, Monty Collins, is a criminal lawyer. And I love writing courtroom scenes – with the proviso, of course, that the dramatic stuff must take precedence over procedure!
As for my Irish Republican characters, yes, I am generally in accord with their view, that is, that the 800 years of occupation of Ireland (in whole or in part) should be brought to a decisive end, and Ireland united as one country. But I belabour the question over and over, as my characters do. Brennan Burke in particular, priest and philosopher, agonizes over “just war” theory and its application to the situation in Ireland. He knows all too well that, even when a cause is a just one, the means of fighting for that cause are often far from just.
I remember one encounter here in Nova Scotia. On a day trip out of town, I happened to see a woman I used to work with. She was with her husband. He told me he was reading my book Ruined Abbey. I’m sure I turned pale at the hearing of it! His family is from Portadown in the North of Ireland. Portadown is known as a bastion of “unionism/loyalism”, that is, union with and loyalty to Britain. It is as far as you can get from a hotbed of Irish Republicanism! He was very courteous but allowed as how he didn’t agree with some of what I had written (that was understating things, I’m sure), and I said, “Oh, I understand completely.” And I said we should sit down someday and talk it over. And I hope we do.
Do you have anything in particular you’d like me to mention in my review.
I suppose you could add that the idea for Fenian Street came directly from the street itself. I’m familiar with the street and I thought, “That will be the title of a future book.” It’s all the more appropriate because of the double entendre. It’s the name of a street in working-class Dublin, but there is also the fact that an Irish Republican could say, “We’re all on Fenian Street, are we not?” The Fenians were 19th-century Irish revolutionaries, and the name still carries a powerful charge today. It is frequently used as a sectarian slur in the North of Ireland.
Any idea how long you’ll keep writing Collins-Burke Mysteries?
I’m hoping to keep writing the series indefinitely, le cúnamh Dé (God willing/with the help of God). As you’ve heard countless times before, “I always wanted to write a book.” All my life, I loved to write. I remember thinking how grand it would be to “have written a book” – there it is on the shelf, ambition realized. But half-way through my first book, Sign of the Cross, it struck me that I could not give this up; I’d have to write a series. That’s how addictive writing can be, as I’m sure you know.
For more on Anne Emery and her books, go to her website.
In the twelfth installment of the Collins-Burke Mystery Series, Halifax author, Anne Emery, brings us an unforgettable hero in the guise of Seamus Rynne, or Shay, as he’s known to the lads.
If you’re an armchair traveler, this book will sweep you up and transport you to Ireland. If you’ve traveled Ireland, like I have, this book will remind you what you’ve forgotten and are longing to experience again. That charm that is Ireland. It’s both homely and worldly. Set, for the most part, in 1970s Dublin, Fenian Street is historical crime fiction at its finest. This is a lengthy, ambitious book (422 pages) and Emery doesn’t shy away from discussing “The Troubles” — the politics of the time, given that her main characters are Republicans, and some are I.R.A. Emery combines real historical personages with fictional characters to ground her story in fact.
These unforgettable characters, with hearts of gold and tongues that spin stories like a seanchaí (shanachie), will take you pub-crawling in Dublin where you’ll have to throw back a pint or two just to keep up with the cracking dialogue. Then, in part two, you’ll be transported to 1970s New York to brush up against the likes of Mickey Spillane and certain Irish gangsters.
So, what’s the craic?
Young Shay Rynne, who grew up in the impoverished Corporation flats on Fenian Street in Dublin, wants to become a member of An Garda Síochána (Guardians of the Peace), the national police force in Ireland. But Dubliners like himself are unwelcome. When a childhood friend, Rosie McGinn, is found “lying at the foot of the back staircase of Goss’s Hotel” with fingermarks bruising her neck, and the investigating DS deems her death accidental, Shay vows to find her killer. He gets on the force and shines, though he’s made an enemy of the investigating officer, DS McCreevy.
Then he’s called to the scene of the brutal death of local politician, Darragh McLogan, and becomes embroiled in a murder investigation that leads him all the way to Hell’s Kitchen in New York City.
Hell’s Kitchen NYC 1970s
Emery’s research is extensive and she includes an extensive bibliography. She also acknowledges several retired garda who helped her with answers to her procedural questions. She’s traveled often in Ireland, as several family members originated there, and knows it well. And she has first-hand experience of what Ireland was like during The Troubles. She took the train from Dublin to Belfast in the 1980s and “saw cars being stopped and searched at checkpoints, saw the tanks, and the British soldiers in the streets with their rifles.” When Shay and Father Burke travel to the refugee camps in northern County Meath to help out, you know it’s heartfelt. “People were streaming across the border from the North to escape the attacks: loyalists—loyal to Britain, not to Ireland—were shooting Catholics and setting fire to their homes” (28). This, sadly, was the climate of the times.
I asked Anne Emery what it was like to write an entire book in dialogue. She said: “Writing dialogue is my favourite part of the process. I could spend hours with a group of people and not remember a thing about what they wore. But I can recount conversations, often word-for-word, and I can remember the cadences and tones of voice.” This gift is apparent in Fenian Street.
Just for fun, I wrote a list of all the Irish terms I found intriguing, many of which pertain to drinking alcohol. They have “lashings of drink”, get “langered” and “gilled.” Shay’s “oul fella” (father) Talkie Rynne is often “on the batter.” Rosie’s killed at a “hooley” (party) thrown by politicians, and if that doesn’t give you “a case of the janglers” nothing will. Shay is “heart-scawded” (overwrought) with the news of his friend’s death and so becomes a “peeler” (policeman.) Later, he’s “cock-a-hoop” to hear from his old girlfriend. You’ll think you’re in a Dublin snug as you slip into this heartfelt story.
Emery assures me that she’ll keep writing the series indefinitely so there’s plenty more shenanigans to come. If you’ve never tried the Collins-Burke Mysteries, don’t think you must start at the beginning. You can start right here. Fenian Street stands alone. Though Father Brennan Burke makes his usual charming appearances, this is Shay’s book.
I read Canadian because Canadian writers are among the best in the world. I also review Canadian authors almost exclusively. I once read a post where someone wrote that there were no good Canadian authors. That just set me on a mission to prove them wrong. Still, a Canadian author can’t make the New York Times best sellers list unless they have an ultra rich American publisher who decides to bankroll them. That’s just the way it is. Too often, we Canadians are relegated to the bottom of the pile. For these reasons and more, I read Canadian and love the books I read.
This is a list of books I’ve read in the past year written by Canadian authors. Most have appeared, or will appear, in the Ottawa Review of Books. This is my way of supporting my fellow writers, giving them well-deserved exposure, and sending gratitude out into this beautiful land I love.
I may not read as much next year as I have my own books to write. But if you’re looking for some great Canadian writing, check out this list:
Under an Outlaw Moon, Dietrich Kalteis (crime)
Elements of Indigenous Style, Greg Younging (a must-have writing guide)
The Last of the Gifted series, Marie Powell (YA Welsh historical fantasy)
Hunting by Stars, Cherie Dimaline (YA Indigenous sci-fi)
Blood Mark, JP McLean (supernatural thriller)
White Lightning, Melissa Yi (crime)
Bloody Relations, Don Gutteridge (historical fiction)
A Stranger in Town, Kelley Armstrong (crime)
Wild Not Broken. Sarah Kades (romance)
The Deepest of Secrets, Kelley Armstrong (crime)
The Corpse with the Turquoise Toes, Cathy Ace (cozy crime)
Obsidian, Thomas King (Indigenous crime)
Deep House, Thomas King (Indigenous crime)
The Mother of All Degrassi, Linda Schuyler (memoir)
Cambium Blue, Maureen Brownlee (fiction)
Fenian Street, Anne Emery (Irish historical crime)
Ghost Mark, JP McLean (supernatural thriller)
The Things I Came Here With. Chris MacDonald (memoir)
The Legend of Sarah, Leslie Gadallah (fantasy)
Wolf at the Door, Joel McKay (fantasy)
Murder at Haven’s Rock. Kelley Armstrong (crime)
A Rip Through Time. Kelley Armstrong (time-travel, Scottish historical, crime)
It might seem unusual to be publishing a memoir in your mid-forties but when you’re an old soul with miles of experiential wisdom to impart, it works beautifully.
This is a genuinely inspirational story of perseverance and resilience. Chris MacDonald is a Toronto tattoo artist who’s come a long way from his rural beginnings in Alliston, Ontario, where he ran wild with his brothers. Along the way, his parents divorced and his mother disappeared from his life. He lived the life of an at-risk kid—cutting school, imbibing, starving, skateboarding, playing punk rock—learning his trade, and building relationships along the way.
“I miss my mom all the time. Maybe if I had closure, things would be different. Unfortunately, I don’t. I only have the things I came here with” (257).
Those things are a creative soul, a solid work ethic, and a talent for music and art. Chris’s writing is lyrical and impressive, flowing from his fingers like the tattoos he respectfully etches on his client’s skin.
“Tattooing is a hulking chimerical beast, startling and beautiful when spotted. It’s a shape-shifter: a cosmic, chrome scorpion; a crude, grey-scale beauty; a Zulueta tribal badge” (240).
This page-turner is divided into three parts: early life in the small town of Alliston, surviving Toronto on his own, and finally, becoming a tattoo artist and getting his own shop. Part One flows like poetry as his memories paint the page. Part Two is tougher as he crawls through the underbelly of the city. And Part Three reads like prose. By then, MacDonald is head-down into the business of becoming an entrepreneur so he can support his new family. His poetic soul never leaves, though; it’s just transferred to his art and music.
Through a series of descriptive vignettes, we wend our way through MacDonald’s life. He’s sensitive, caring, wounded, emotional, and most of all, honest. You’ll find yourself rooting for him and identifying with him. An eighties’ kid, his first crush was a “safari-guide figurine” and then he saw Olivia Newton-John.
If you know Toronto at all, you’ll paint yourself into the many places where MacDonald skates and crashes. Poor and starving, he does what he must to survive.
I can only applaud Chris for his perseverance, and for using the talents he came here with.
You can find Chris at Under My Thumb on the “western edge of Little Portugal” in Toronto. You can even book some time with him, enjoy the therapy being tattooed offers, and emerge wearing one of his creations. Go to Instagram and view his work. But first, read this, his first book.
PD TORONTO, ON – MARCH 11 – – Chris MacDonald, owner/operator of Under My Thumb Tattoos poses for pictures in his shop.__The drawing on the left is his. Vince Talotta/Toronto Star
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