All posts by Heather

About Heather

Heather is the Librarian II, Literacy and Readers' Advisory, with the Vaughan Public Libraries. Her job is to connect leisure readers and aspiring writers in the endless space of imagination and creation through words in all forms.  |  Meet the team

An Evening with Michelle Good, Author of Five Little Indians

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Michelle Good, author of the award-winning novel Five Little Indians, will be visiting Vaughan Public Libraries via Zoom on Tuesday, September 27, 7:00 pm, three days before the National Day for True and Reconciliation. I’m inviting all of you to join us for an evening of meaningful conversations. Please register now on Eventbrite!

Five Little Indians has received phenomenal success, for many good reasons. First, for a book that deals with such a painful, heavy topic, it is surprisingly readable and captivating. Michelle has chosen a unique focal point. The book does here and there describe the devastating suffering that the residential school children had to endure, but the horrific crime that happened in the residential schools is not the focus of the book. Instead, the book emphasizes the hardship that the five protagonists had to struggled through while they tried to make their way into the society after the residential school – the outright racism they still received despite they were finally speaking perfect English, the lost connection with their own family (both physically and emotionally), the mental trauma that continued to haunt them even after the cruel physical abuse had stopped … With precise and profound insights, Michelle has skillfully crafted five unforgettable characters, each with a unique story.

The five protagonists’ stories are all based on true cases. Michelle is a member of the Red Pheasant Cree Nation in Saskatchewan. She had worked for Indigenous organizations for twenty-five years before she obtained a law degree. She has been advocating for residential school survivors for over fourteen years. This direct experience with the residential school survivors offers a firm ground of solid materials for Michelle to build her characters and tell their stories.

The traumatic residential school experience impacted all Indigenous communities collectively, but the damage done to each individual is specific and none are the same. There is no way to simply create an “archetype,” so Michelle choses to sculpt five protagonists instead, and the detailed, vivid portrayal of these characters has clearly touched many readers. Michelle’s wise choice of using fiction, as opposed to non-fiction, has made this dark era of the Canadian history much more accessible to other Canadians or even international readers.

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An Evening with Marissa Stapley, Author of the Reese Book Club Dec’21 Pick

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I’m so excited that Marissa Stapley, the author of Lucky—the Reese Book Club Dec’21 Pick, will be visiting the Vaughan Public Libraries via Zoom on May 26, 7:00 pm. Tickets will be on sale starting May 5 on Eventbrite. You are very welcome to join us for an evening of great conversation with Marissa!

I have to say this is such a page-turning, fun read. We are so busy these days and have to squeeze time to read. As entertainment goes, we often turn to the screen for instant gratification. But Lucky reminds us that reading can be fun and satisfying, too!  

What makes Lucky so fun? First, it’s a con-artist story. No one likes liars, swindlers, or grifters in real life—look at the damages Bernie Madoff and Elizabeth Holmes had done! But it’s a totally different story in books and movies. The con artists portrayed in pop culture are often magnetic, whether we like them or not. From The Talented Mr. Ripley to Catch Me If You Can to My Friend Anna, all these books were made into theatre or streaming service hits. And Lucky has also just been auctioned for a TV series!  Why do we like con-artist stories? Maybe 99% of us like the idea of Robin Hood robbing the rich and helping the poor; or, since we can’t read anyone else’s mind, we are curious about people’s psychology in confidence games?  I can’t tell you anything new about why we love con-artist stories, but I’m sure Marissa will be able to share her insights. She has done lots of research on grifting :).

But no matter how interesting a topic is, it needs a skilled writer to craft a good story. Marissa has proved her as a great storyteller in Lucky. The unclaimed lotto ticket idea is genius. Though Marissa humbly credits the DJ who gave her this idea, she successfully develops a storyline that grips the readers from the beginning to the end. All parts come together tightly but it doesn’t feel rushed. The past and present parallel narratives is very smart. The strategy definitely helps shape Lucky’s back story and draw out readers’ empathy for her. Lucky is believable, not cliché, and most importantly, fun!

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Genevieve Graham: Making the Lesser-Known Canadian History Accessible

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On November 18, Genevieve Graham, the Globe and Mail No. 1 bestselling author of Letters Across the Sea and The Forgotten Home Child, will be visiting Vaughan Public Libraries’ Adult Book Club via Zoom. Despite all the battles that the pandemic brought upon, it did teach us one useful thing – to embrace the virtual meeting space, where we get to meet Genevieve, who’s now far away in Nova Scotia. Please register here and enjoy an evening of good conversations with Genevieve!

Genevieve is known for writing about the little-known or much-forgotten Canadian history. The Forgotten Home Child is about over 120,000 destitute children shipped from England to Canada to be used as labour on Canadian farms and households between 1869 and 1932. The book has first made me aware of the abuse and stigmatization that these home children received. And her current bestseller, Letters Across the Sea, has introduced me to the anti-semitic Christie Pits Riot in 1933 and the suffering of the undertrained Canadian soldiers at the inhuman Japanese camps during WWII.

Those heart-wrenching stories have made Genevieve and readers shed millions of tears. But Genevieve’s writing has made the cruel, hard facts digestible as well. Genevieve reminds me of Pierre Berton, the historian who had popularized Canadian history with his light, fast-paced writing style, just all in non-fiction. We should know historical fiction is as powerful as non-fiction history books. In Genevieve’s words, “History itself is in black and white. It feels far away and cold. Bringing the colour of fictional characters into a well-researched point in history, essentially breathing life back into the history, makes the past real. It’s much more difficult to forget a story if you care about the characters, and so history is remembered.” She believes “historical fiction has a huge responsibility: we must teach the mind but also touch the heart.” And she has done this job brilliantly!

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