Ten-year-old Elly Verkest is a first-generation Canadian born after the Second World War. Her father, Gaston, is Belgian and her mother, Mina, is Dutch. Growing up in Southern Ontario, in a small town filled with Dutch and Belgians, she is carving out her own unique Canadian identity. Her father raises pigeons and often travels back to Belgium for business. But he doesn’t return from one of his trips. As Elly and Mina struggle to build a new life without him, their relationship becomes strained and they grow apart. As a young adult, Elly decides to travel to Belgium in search of her father, and is shocked at what she discovers. Elly returns to Canada, pregnant by a man she met while in Antwerp. When her daughter Linda is grown up, she develops a close relationship with Mina, much to the dismay of her mother. And as this relationship develops, the family secrets spill out. Fire and Air , by Erik Vlaminck and translated by Paul Vincent, is a novel about a family t
Despite hearing good things about her books, I have yet to read Ms. Billerbeck. Enjoy your week.
ReplyDeleteI'm not familiar with any of these books - will have to check them out!
ReplyDeleteMy It's Monday post can be found here.
A nice mix of books! Hope you enjoy them all.
ReplyDeleteHere's what I'm reading!
While The World Watched sounds good... I need to look up what this is about! Have a super week :)
ReplyDeleteI have heard good things about The Sentimentalists, but have yet to read it myself. I hope you find it interesting.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your reading week!