Book 10 (2015) Fugitive Pieces***** by Anne Michaels

This was an e-book read on the road in the Balkans.  A very appropriate reinforcement of the echoes of WW2 and the Holocaust I found everywhere.

This is a story, set in Poland, Greece, and Canada, is about Jacob Beer, a child who survived and was saved by a Greek geologist, and the impact of being a survivor on them, their friends, wives, and their descendants to the present time.

Michaels is a poetic writer meaning you never quite know what is going on and you hope it all comes together by the end.  I am not a fan of this technique but the writing is heart-stopping and the story unforgettable.  

Book 18 (2012) Alone in the Classroom** by Elizabeth Hay

I loved Hay's Late Nights on Air (one of my top 5 Canadian novels), but I can hardly remember what this is about.   It's about a school teacher in a one room prairie school, and a girl is murdered.

I heard her read at the Vancouver Institute this winter and she was marvellous.   The mind was fed and glowing for a week.   She was a broadcaster and has the power of voice as well as word. 

Prizes --
Giller Prize for Late Nights on Air