The Broad Side: reflections on a long life

by Eve Zaremba

In her long life, Eve Zaremba has picked tomatoes, driven a Bookmobile, researched Canadians’ junk food preferences, and written lesbian-feminist detective novels. She reflects on those experiences, and the personalities and politics involved, in her memoir, The Broad Side. Eve spent her childhood in 1930s Warsaw, the daughter of a Polish army officer. When the Nazis invaded, she and her family took refuge in England, arriving in Canada in 1952. By the 1970s, Eve was an active part of Toronto’s lesbian-feminist community and a founding collective member of Broadside newspaper. Sharply observant and fearlessly honest, Eve Zaremba’s memories and insights will entertain and provoke readers, often simultaneously. She provides an inside look at a disappearing but hugely influential period in the Canadian women’s movement and the people and ideas that shaped it. Illustrated with photos and ephemera from Eve’s personal collection, The Broad Side makes a sparkling contribution to Canadian feminist history.

242 pages, Paperback

First published November 8, 2015

About the author

Eve Zaremba (1930–2025) was a Canadian mystery writer. She was active in the Women’s liberation movement in the 1970s and 1980s. She published several novels focusing on Helen Keremos, a private detective described as the first lesbian character in literary history to be the main character in an ongoing series of mystery novels.

Eve Zaremba was born in Poland and emigrated to Canada in 1952 after a stint in the UK. She graduated from University of Toronto in 1963.

Active in the Women's Liberation Movement in the seventies and eighties, Zaremba was a founding member of Broadside, A Feminist Review published in Toronto from 1978 to 1988. She has written articles and reviews in a number of other publications.

Reviews

[Janet Bristeir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed it. Eve has a knack for telling things as they are, which I really enjoy.

[Murphy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. It talked about what it was to be a lesbian writer and activist in the same era as I grew up! It talks about many of the original lesbian writers also. I cannot recommend this book enough! I suppose that I am so smitten because in this writers first mystery she beat up a homophobic football player and I was awed. While I don't endorse violence in any form I felt empowered by that first book. I did not feel so impotent in the lesbian world.