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My Thievery of the People
FINALIST: 2025 QWF Literary Award for Fiction.
From the highways of Cairo to the outports of Newfoundland, the soul-crushing cubicles of city work and the deceptive perils of the Quebec countryside, these brilliant short stories lay bare the workings of power and the small acts of both courage and compromise by which those on the margins defy them.
Beautifully cohesive across the stunning depth and range of setting and subject, there is nothing predictable about My Thievery of the People.
From the highways of Cairo to the outports of Newfoundland, the soul-crushing cubicles of city work and the deceptive perils of the Quebec countryside, these brilliant short stories lay bare the workings of power and the small acts of both courage and compromise by which those on the margins defy them.
Beautifully cohesive across the stunning depth and range of setting and subject, there is nothing predictable about My Thievery of the People.
176 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2025
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About the author
Leila Marshy
3 books28 followersAuthor of The Philistine (LLP, 2018), My Thievery of the People (Baraka Books, 2025), and Razing Palestine: Punishing Solidarity and Dissent in Canada (Baraka Books, 2025), Leila Marshy's Palestinian father was exiled from his home in 1948, never to return. During the First Intifada, Marshy lived in Cairo and worked for the Palestinian Red Crescent and the Palestinian Mental Health Association. She has been a journalist, a baker, a chicken farmer, a graphic designer, and a community & political organizer. In 2011 she founded a groundbreaking group in Montreal that brought the Hasidic community together in dialogue with their neighbours. Her stories and journalism has been published in Canadian and American media. She lives in Montreal.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 22, 2025
A good, if not a little uneven collection from Leila Marshy. Her previously published novel, The Philistine, is worth checking out.
July 28, 2025
First I'd like to say that this is an exceptional collection. I would have liked to give it a 4.5 rating, but unfortunately it's not possible on this site.
In this short story collection, Leila Marshy brings a sculptors precision, or should I say a surgeon's knife, to the craft. In interviews, she has emphasized editing, editing, editing, and yes, that shows here. (By the way, I don't agree with this idea that the spare, lean and mean story is the only way to go. It seems to dominate Canadian literary discourse. But I do believe that it's certainly one good way to go.)
The stories have range -- thematic, stylistic and geographic. I really felt that I was inside the skin of some of the characters, not a comfortable experience, but one that defines great writing. This was particularly true for three male protagonists -- a physically ugly father, a knife-yielding circus performer and a man employed as a snow plower in a remote, "up-North" Canadian town.
Some of the female characters act in subversive ways to counter power abuse. I have read that subversion is one of the few" powers" that the victimized have, and this notion is well illustrated in this volume. I could almost see Marshy going "gotcha" as they won their small and sometimes big victories! The dynamics of power, at various levels, manifested in various ways, is a central, and very well executed theme, in My Thievery of the People.
Now for the quibbles. For me, the first story, or rather a sketch of a twisted interaction between two women, did not work. And I felt that an otherwise powerful story of a romantic relationship between two women (and much else besides) was resolved in a rather predictable way. This particularly struck out for a writer as bold, even audacious, as Marshy.
But these are minor scratches on an otherwise polished and powerful work.
In this short story collection, Leila Marshy brings a sculptors precision, or should I say a surgeon's knife, to the craft. In interviews, she has emphasized editing, editing, editing, and yes, that shows here. (By the way, I don't agree with this idea that the spare, lean and mean story is the only way to go. It seems to dominate Canadian literary discourse. But I do believe that it's certainly one good way to go.)
The stories have range -- thematic, stylistic and geographic. I really felt that I was inside the skin of some of the characters, not a comfortable experience, but one that defines great writing. This was particularly true for three male protagonists -- a physically ugly father, a knife-yielding circus performer and a man employed as a snow plower in a remote, "up-North" Canadian town.
Some of the female characters act in subversive ways to counter power abuse. I have read that subversion is one of the few" powers" that the victimized have, and this notion is well illustrated in this volume. I could almost see Marshy going "gotcha" as they won their small and sometimes big victories! The dynamics of power, at various levels, manifested in various ways, is a central, and very well executed theme, in My Thievery of the People.
Now for the quibbles. For me, the first story, or rather a sketch of a twisted interaction between two women, did not work. And I felt that an otherwise powerful story of a romantic relationship between two women (and much else besides) was resolved in a rather predictable way. This particularly struck out for a writer as bold, even audacious, as Marshy.
But these are minor scratches on an otherwise polished and powerful work.
November 1, 2025
Unlike other short story collections like Denis Johnson’s Jesus’ Son, Junot Díaz’s Drown, or Sandra Cisneros’s House on Mango Street, where the stories revolve around recurring characters and common settings, Marshy’s collection brings together a wide variety of characters from distinctly different places, backgrounds, and walks of life which makes this collection an interesting standout in the variety that it delivers.
What really sets this collection apart, though, is its focus on the dynamics of class, colonialism, and gender. Marshy approaches these themes with finesse, avoiding the trap of heavy-handed propaganda. Instead, the stories are infused with a gently cynical humor that is both psychologically astute and empathetic.
What really sets this collection apart, though, is its focus on the dynamics of class, colonialism, and gender. Marshy approaches these themes with finesse, avoiding the trap of heavy-handed propaganda. Instead, the stories are infused with a gently cynical humor that is both psychologically astute and empathetic.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews