For a century, the farmhouse on Prince Edward Island that inspired the setting of “Anne of Green Gables” has lured fans eager to retrace the footsteps of their favorite redheaded literary character.
But the Victorian farmstead is not just a capsule suspended in time. It welcomes a diverse fan base whose members see themselves in the foibles of the impetuous orphan who finds love and family.
For the characters there is a lot of wild failure in this book. But also humour, strength, and singularity. Whittall gives us a passionate look at young female lives, their sexuality, queerness, and independence. Her protagonists are often humiliated, enraged, or hurt, but they are also reliably tough women with rich interior lives and an unapologetic knowingness.
These 15 stories cut straight to the bone, exploring the complex dynamics of immigrant families through the lenses of multiple generations. Dimitriadis excels at capturing the push-pull between tradition and transformation, particularly in compact gems like ‘Cypriot Blue Skies’, where a woman’s divided loyalties – between her personal desires and the responsibilities of motherhood – become a metaphor for the migrant experience itself.
It is impossible for a reviewer to do justice to this book. It is a work of endeavour, of hope, of pain, of the richness of a truly remarkable life that also reminds us that all our lives are remarkable, all are extraordinary, if we will allow them to be. It is a blessing as much as a book. How lucky we were – and are – to know him.