A Map of Glass by Jane Urquhart is the topic of discussion at the April 19, 5 p.m. book club meeting. For the May 17 meeting, we’ll discuss Dog On It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn.
The Publisher’s Weekly review of A Map of Glass:
Urquhart’s passion for the past (The Stone Carvers) and the land (The Underpainters, winner of the Governor General’s Award in Canada) are at full poetic play in this intricate story of love, loss and memory. Set in present-day Toronto and in the 19th-century world of rural Ontario timber barons,it opens with the wintry death of Alzheimer’s sufferer Andrew, whose body, borne by an ice floe, runs aground on the small Lake Ontario island where artist Jerome McNaughton is seeking inspiration. The story steps back a century, to when Andrew’s ancestors, owners of the same island, razed forests to build ships, then it jumps forward a year from the opening scene of Andrew’s death, to when Sylvia, Andrew’s married lover of 20 years, sets out to meet with Jerome, who discovered Andrew’s body, and, through Jerome, to reconnect one last time with Andrew. Meanwhile, Jerome, the relationship-shy adult child of an abusive, alcoholic father, is slowly coming to trust that girlfriend Mira’s love for him is real. Urquhart reveals all of their haunted personal histories in the lyrical first and third parts of the novel. But it’s in the compact family-saga middle, where a slew of Andrew’s memorable forebears take the stage, that this novel’s luminous heart truly lies. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Dog On It: A Chet and Bernie Mystery by Spencer Quinn is a detective story told from the perspective of the detective’s dog, Chet. It is a fun approach to storytelling, and Chet’s raw and unbridled enthusiasm shines through his occasional confusion due to the frequent tropes used in everyday speech. For example, Chet is always alert for the wild geese that never are found in a wild goose chase. Chet is a K-9 school drop out but hardly a delinquent. Bernie, as seen through Chet’s eyes, can do no wrong. Their finances are a mess, but Chet is a source of endless optimism. Their specialty is finding missing persons.
From Publisher’s Weekly:
Wealthy divorcée Cynthia Chambliss hires Bernie, a former cop, to find her missing 15-year-old daughter, Madison, whose father is a real estate developer who smells suspiciously of cat. (Chet’s keen sense of smell comes in handy.) When Madison reappears and disappears again, her dad says she’s just a runaway, though Bernie thinks otherwise. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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