Every book launch has been a special time with friends and family and writers and readers. My memory has taken me back to other launches and the file where photos are stored. In particular I look at the faces and honestly, I don’t think we looked any older in 2016 than we did in 2006. This time, I’m coming to you with a face that I tell myself is wrinkled with wisdom, memories of people who were there and the ones who won’t be at this party. In Edmonton next week, there will be empty chairs for a dear Aunt and Uncle, Frieda and Bill, who came to every Edmonton reading with huge smiles of the pride they told me my mom and dad would be feeling. I am looking forward to this special time when I know that I will be meeting new friends as well.

Edmonton Launch: “Audrey’s Books” 10702 Jasper Avenue,  Edmonton, December 2nd 7:00 PM

Fourteen jewel-like stories unveil the tender chaos of lives unlived and loves unspoken. In Elephants in the Room, Betty Jane Hegerat masterfully uncovers the quiet fractures of ordinary lives—the unspoken regrets, the buried griefs, and the fragile threads of connection that bind families across generations.

From a devoted son’s frantic dash to help his mother glimpse the Queen to a reluctant father’s stunned reunion with the daughter he never knew; from a widow, dressing her mother-in-law for an eternal rest, to a boy’s guilty reckoning with a bully’s untimely death, these unforgettable stories illuminate the elephants in our lives we ignore at our peril.

With tender wit and unflinching insight, Hegerat explores the weight of what we leave unsaid: the ache of lost chances, the solace of small mercies, and the stubborn grit that carries us through. As poignant as a stolen glance, as resonant as a half-forgotten lullaby, the stories in Elephants in the Room whisper the unvarnished secrets of family ties—where regrets loom large, and small acts of grace light the way home.

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Writers’ Union of Canada.