What do you think?
Rate this book
Agassiz: A Novel in Stories
Set in a fictional Manitoba town, this novel traces three generations of the Lafreniere family and examines such issues as marital problems, sexual curiosity, and racial allegiances
- GenresShort StoriesFiction
346 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1987
1 person is currently reading
29 people want to read
About the author
Sandra Birdsell
18 books15 followersSandra Louise Birdsell (née Bartlette) is a Canadian novelist and short story writer of Métis and Mennonite heritage.
Sandra is the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her life in Morris, Manitoba and now in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Sandra left home at age fifteen. At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University Of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, the “Night Travellers” and two years after, “Ladies Of The House”. Both are published in one volume as Agassiz stories.
Two events shaped her worldview and influenced her writing, the first when Sandra was six years-old. Her sister died from leukemia. That left a four year gap before her next older sister. She felt alone even surrounded by 9 siblings. Her loneliness led her to ponder nearby parks and rivers, allowing her imagination to be wild.
The second event was the massive flood of Morris in 1950. Her first three successful stories in “Night Travellers” are based on it.
She is a Mom of three children and Grandma to four. Her husband, Jan Zarzycki is a filmmaker.
Sandra is the fifth of eleven children. She lived most of her life in Morris, Manitoba and now in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Sandra left home at age fifteen. At the age of thirty-five, she enrolled in Creative Writing at the University Of Winnipeg. Five years later, Turnstone Press published her first book, the “Night Travellers” and two years after, “Ladies Of The House”. Both are published in one volume as Agassiz stories.
Two events shaped her worldview and influenced her writing, the first when Sandra was six years-old. Her sister died from leukemia. That left a four year gap before her next older sister. She felt alone even surrounded by 9 siblings. Her loneliness led her to ponder nearby parks and rivers, allowing her imagination to be wild.
The second event was the massive flood of Morris in 1950. Her first three successful stories in “Night Travellers” are based on it.
She is a Mom of three children and Grandma to four. Her husband, Jan Zarzycki is a filmmaker.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 20, 2020
These connected stories of parents, valiant with their own unmet dreams, are unabashedly universal as they describe the bleak reality of growing up and growing old with their insular offspring. THEN—the stories shift to these same children, now grown, and with hits of recognition, you get to peek into their desires and misunderstood hurt from these same parents in the earlier chapters.
What makes the stories so charged though are the images that the writer, Sandra Birdsell, conveys which are both bleak and hilarious and then nasty and even mean as she describes family life. Descriptions of LADIES OF THE HOUSE in one group of stories alternates between MAD MEN 60s culture and current day INSTAGRAM competitiveness. They are searingly honest and steaming with truth. Hard even to read and then they sit with you long after the book is put down.
If there were more stars...I would give them all to these stories.
What makes the stories so charged though are the images that the writer, Sandra Birdsell, conveys which are both bleak and hilarious and then nasty and even mean as she describes family life. Descriptions of LADIES OF THE HOUSE in one group of stories alternates between MAD MEN 60s culture and current day INSTAGRAM competitiveness. They are searingly honest and steaming with truth. Hard even to read and then they sit with you long after the book is put down.
If there were more stars...I would give them all to these stories.
Displaying 1 of 1 review