Penticton Western News Friday, August 12, 2011
www.pentictonwesternnews.com 11
Arts & Entertainment
Penticton author launchs Shelter
T
hree years ago, under the trees in Linden Gardens, Penticton author Frances Greenslade read from her unfinished manuscript. I was captivated. The writing was so clear and precise that months later I could recall exact details of a yellow poplar leaf caught in the truck’s windshield wiper, and a forest outside gently raining dying leaves. The story fragments bubbled up in my memory often enough that I eventually contacted Greenslade, asking her to let me know when the book was finished. And at long last, Shelter will be on store shelves for everyone to enjoy. My wait was nothing compared to the gestation period of Shelter. Greenslade first began working on the book shortly after her mother’s death in 1992. Now backed by a major publishing house, and with strong, vivid writing reminiscent of great Canadian writers like AnnMarie MacDonald, I suspect Shelter’s timeline will stretch on much further. Maggie and Jenny
live in the rustic, rural Chilcotin valley in the early ‘70s. After their father is involved in a logging accident, their mother, Irene, abruptly leaves town. She drops the girls in Williams Lake to billet with a gloomy acquaintance and her wheelchairbound husband. Irene never returns. Both girls deal with the uncertain and at times desperate situation in radically different ways. But rather than mining the girls’ plight for pathetic effect, Greenslade’s tone skirts around darkness, remaining poignantly melancholic and yet underlain with hope. Shelter is a basic human
HEATHER ALLEN 100 MILE BOOK CLUB
requirement. Greenslade explores myriad aspects of shelter, including the extent to which parents are obligated to provide shelter for their children. “Maggie and Jenny began to haunt my imagination, and I began to think about lost mothers and
about mothers who make choices that don’t necessarily have to do with their children,” Greenslade says about writing the book. “The unspoken question in both Maggie and Jenny’s minds is: ‘Did she choose this?’ They want their mother to be fine, but Maggie realizes that if she’s fine, that’s even worse. What would that mean? That she was staying away intentionally?” The Chilcotin is a beautiful, but raw, landscape. “It’s a place where people made the choice to leave behind their old lives, and disappear into what was really still a wild frontier,” said Greenslade. By capturing the place so perfectly, Greenslade allows you to disappear into a story with a clear, visceral beauty of its own. Shelter will be in bookstores on Aug. 23, and will have its Penticton launch on Sept.15 at 7 p.m. in Okanagan College. Visit www.francesgreenslade. com/ for more info.
Powerfence.ca Automatic Gate Openerss Surveillance Systems Custom Designed Gatess High Power Electric Fencing
R & S Powerfence 250-492-7090
Free Estimates
4th Annual
PRINCETON
Traditional Music Festival
Heather Allen is a writer and reader who lives in Penticton. allenh@telus. net
August 19-21, 2011
Fiddle tunes Sea shanties Celtic Traditional ballads Accordion music Concerts Workshops Admission is FREE
FOR MORE INFORMATION: www.princetontraditional.org Email: princetonfestival@telus.net Phone: 250-295-6010
BOB BROWN BUICK GMC LTD. yesteam@bobbrowngm.com • www.bobbrowngm.com 1010 WESTMINSTER AVE. W. • PENTICTON • 1-877-770-6953 DL #7241
Employee Pricing on Now!
PAY WHAT WE PAY! 2011 GMC SIERRA 4X4 CREW CAB Purchase for only
POWER WINDOWS
28,469 $ 399 $
Lease for 24 Months at *
PER MONTH
AIR CONDITIONING
POWER DOOR LOCKS
ON-STAR COMMUNICATION SYSTEM
CD/MP3 PLAYER CRUISE CONTROL
POWERFUL 4.8L V-8 ENGINE
FOUR SPEED AUTOMATIC
FRONT AND REAR FLOOR MATS 5 YEAR, 160,000 KM POWERTRAIN WARRANTY
*24 month lease at 0.8 rate with $1,990 down payment. T.P. $11,566, residual $17,876. Stk. #N11170
Best Buick GMC C Deals in B B.C. C Guarante Guaranteed eed