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 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.
I am intriqued by this story
because of the strength in a
relationship through bad times and how we become more because of it.
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.
I’ve never heard of the Halifax Explosion. This sounds like it would be a great read.
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.
I’m interested in how a stroke can affect a relationship.
i would love to read the book and would be happy to answer questions about it after i read it. have a blessed day.
This is a piece of history that I would find interesting.
I’m guilty of ‘looking at the elderly as though they were never young’ so I’d love to read this.