Glass Voices by Carol Bruneau - Book Review and Giveaway
Lucy and Harry haven’t always been the placid elderly couple everyone thought they saw. 50 years had passed since they were the victims of the Halifax Explosion, a horrific accident that occurred in 1917 off the coast of Nova Scotia in the Halifax Harbour. That tragic day, two ships collided which ignited massive amounts of explosives. Their marriage bent under the weight of mourning and loss. Sometimes their relationship showed the wounds in obvious ways, other times more subtle undercurrents pulled them under.
We’ve all made the mistake - looked upon an elderly person as though they’ve never been anything else, never been younger, never lived 1,000 lives before they got to be old. Glass Voices shatters all of these preconceived ideas. It’s 1969 and Lucy, now in her 70’s, is afraid of losing her husband. He’s had a stroke and she doesn’t know if he’ll live or die, and if he lives if their life will ever be the same.
Glass Voices flows back and forth between past and present, building two intertwining story lines. As Lucy tries to deal with her life upending once again, she flashes back to how her difficult marriage has molded her into the person she has become.
Bruneau’s novel is a moving story placed in a tragic historical event that I found fascinating to read about. It was easy to keep turning the pages, wanting to witness and understand just what the Halifax Explosion was and how it affected the lives of so many. I couldn’t help but draw parallels between it and 9/11 due to the totally unexpected devastation that killed about 2,000 people. To me, Glass Voices reads like a book begging to be a movie.
Carol Bruneau is a Canadian author currently living in Nova Scotia. She has five other novels to her credit and has won both the Thomas Head Raddall Award and the Dartmouth Book Award for fiction. Glass Voices is published by Cormorant Books.
There are three ways to enter to win a copy of Glass Voices: 1.) Leave a comment here telling me what intrigues you about the book. 2.) Subscribe to carp(e) libris reviews to be entered to win this or any other book given away here. 3.) Blog about this giveaway with a link back to it. Do all three, and you have three chances to win!
The winner will be drawn with Random.org on Thursday, February 28th, 2008, at 12noon EST. I’ll announce the winner here after they’ve been contacted.
Thanks for reading!
Buy Glass Voices here to support carp(e) libris reviews and your local bookstore!
Posted in Book Review and Giveaway
February 25th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
I love the link to the Halifax explosion! That definitely intrigues me.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
It’ll be up tomorrow, Diane. As always, thanks for the heads up.
I’d never heard of the HE before. Sounds like an intriguing read.
Best,
aBookworm
February 26th, 2008 at 1:37 am
Hi, A friend I grew up with moved to Nova Scotia right after high school! I am not familiar with this incident at all. It is amazing what I learn! Please enter me in your drawing for this intriguing book! I would love to see how this event affected people and see how the elderly couple fare. Thanks,Cindi
February 26th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
What intrigues me about this book is the deeply emotional subject. I would love to read this.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
I love novels that involve in-depth research of historical events.
February 26th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I’m intrigued because not only is this a piece of history I’ve never heard about, but it also sounds like a very moving read!
February 26th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
I must be honest and say I found your blogs through a Sweeps newsletter. My daughter is working hard to raise my prescious grandchildren chem free so I sent her your other blog. Then I came here and found your yummy reviews. Bonus day! I have already sent your blog to a couple of reading friends! I look forward to reading the back reviews.
About the book: it sounds fascinating! Count me in and I’ll be back! Take care, love, smiles and prayers!
February 26th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I like that it flashed between the past and present.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
This book is uniquely relevant to my situation right now. You see, in the last week I have officially crossed over to “old.” It wasn’t a birthday. I didn’t have a mid-life crisis.
But in the last week, my vision collapsed and I needed reading glasses! I am warning you and all of your readers, it comes that fast. It is not gradual, it is instantaneous.
And also in the last week, my neck has begun to resemble {shudder} CREPE!!! Yes, crepe de chine, crepes suzette, whatever crepe you visualize, my neck resembles it.
It’s over. Never again will I be cool, hot or smokin’. The best I can wish for is that for a brief period in their younger years, my grandchildren pretend to think I’m cool so they continue to get great presents.
I obviously NEED this book. Oh…and if sucking up counts, your review is BRILLIANT!!!
February 26th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I like the perspective of looking at the elderly and not knowing what they have experienced in life. While, thankfully, we don’t all have to endure such a tragedy as the Halifax Explosions, everyone has their story to tell. I look at my elderly mother, and I try to remember that she hasn’t always been so frail.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
the link between teh halifax explosion and present day tie-ins is intriquing.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
I’m intrigued by the fact that we will see the story through the eyes of an older person……..both past and present. It sounds fascinating.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
I checked out the link for the Halifax explosion-very interesting-I had never heard of this before. I would love to read this
February 26th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I like that the book flashes between the past and present.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
This sounds really interesting! Especially the idea of thinking of an elderly person only as they are now.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
I love fiction set against a true historical backdrop. Sounds fascinating.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
The link between the past and the present
February 26th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
too cool
February 26th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
This got to be one of the most interesting and historic stories i’v read in a long time.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
As a Canadian I am interested in Canadian history and this is a historical event that I have always been interested in. By focusing on individuals involved in the event it makes the story more enjoyable to read
February 26th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
As a senior myself, the focus of this book fascinates me.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
I have been interested in this topic for years and this combination of the historical perspective as well as the dividuals lives that were changed is definitely intriguing. I have read about the Halifax explosion and would enjoy this novel.
February 26th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
This is a very different perspective.
February 27th, 2008 at 12:05 am
nice book!! nice contest!!
February 27th, 2008 at 12:27 am
I like that its a story with characters at an older age. Also, the historical tie is obscure and interesting.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:38 am
nothing as i thought
February 27th, 2008 at 9:21 am
sounds to be a very touching book. it always bring hurt, confusion when you find yourself in a very hard situation, thinking that you’ll lose something special and important all over again.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:03 am
It’s true that I think of my elders as having perfect fulfilling lives. I don’t usually take into account what negative life situations may have been part of their past. art of it may be their generation not wanting to talk about those things.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:42 am
Sounds like an interesting story to read
February 27th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Hi there. What especially intrigues me about this book is its focus on elderly characters. I’ve become interested in the plight of the aged since I started my dissertation, which is about the elderly.
February 27th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
i’m thrilled to find a book with older lead characters
February 27th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Wow, it does indeed sound like a powerful novel. The intertwining past and present storylines alone are what interest me most. I’d love to win this one.
February 27th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I too, think it’s neat that the characters are older ones.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
I just visited New Brunswick last fall and fell in love with the east coast so I am interested in reading a story based from Halifax.
February 27th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
I’m interested in this book because I have an award that was given to my great grandfather after a great water rescue off Newfoundland when a ship wrecked and I read all things Maine,Nova Scotia and Newfoundland!
February 27th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
[...] Where: carp(e) libris [...]
February 27th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
I really like the premise of this book about looking inside the person to see a history that you never would have known or thought of.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
I am intrigued by the Halifax Explosion. I have never heard of it. I subscribed to your newsletter.
February 27th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
i love novels based on historical facts.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Great read and a little bit of history thrown What a great combination
February 27th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
I bought a nonfiction book “The Town That Died” about this explosion, years ago in NOva Scotia. I would be fascinated to read more about it.
February 27th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
Halifax Explosion — I have never heard anything about this piece of history…. Would like to know more about it.
February 28th, 2008 at 1:01 am
I recently learned about the Halifax Explosion and would love to learn more! Sounds like a great book!
February 28th, 2008 at 2:51 am
I’d have to say that the historical perspective is what really grabs me about this book. It’s a surprisingly little-known event outside of the immediate area. I’d love to read this.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:23 am
Great book summary; it lured me in!
February 28th, 2008 at 4:32 am
the book looks very interesting for how something that happened so many years ago can have a control on their lives today. Love the history.
February 28th, 2008 at 6:22 am
This novel is fascinating and wonderful with the focus upon the people and the events. The history and the location is well known and it interests me a great deal.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
sounds like an interesting migration through the lives of an ageing couple
February 28th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
I love the way the characters are developed by flashing back and forth between their presebt lives and their past to show how their lives have been changed by events they have lived through.
February 28th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
It is easier for me to read about historical events when they are written as a novel with characters I can visualize. It makes the event and all the associated emotions more real to me.
February 28th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
I would love to win a copy of this book. It is so different from anything I have ever read. I am studing health and aging right now and this book could give me some insights.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
I am intriqued by this story
because of the strength in a
relationship through bad times and how we become more because of it.
February 28th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
This book intrigues me because it involves such a catastrophic event, but it also makes us remember how much we can learn and should learn from the older persons in our lives.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:01 pm
I’ve never heard of the Halifax Explosion. This sounds like it would be a great read.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I grew up in Canada, and interestingly enough, have never heard of the Halifax Explosion. I’d love to learn more about it from this book.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
I’m interested in how a stroke can affect a relationship.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:50 am
i would love to read the book and would be happy to answer questions about it after i read it. have a blessed day.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:53 am
This is a piece of history that I would find interesting.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
I’m guilty of ‘looking at the elderly as though they were never young’ so I’d love to read this.