sorrow

As a prairie boy from Winnipeg, I couldn't help but fall in love with the writing of Carol Shields. As study of Canadian literature suggests, this is a literature of place and of "home" in ways unlike most other national writing. And here was my home, my place in new and intriguing configurations- evoking a familiar spirit but teaching me so much more as well- about my place, about my feelings and about myself.

Carol Shields told stories which more poignantly and cogently described the human spirit and the "everyday" of life than any other. She brought to the surface our fragility, our sensitivity and our faults- yet she made it beautiful, real and compelling. She was a friend of a friend and wrote in my copy of Unless- I hope to meet you soon. Alas, it was not be, however, she has left a spirit so whole and wondrous that it shall live on through her work.