The Biblio File
October 11, 2021
Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
The library ghost chose Sussex Drive by Linda Svendsen this week. We have to assume he read the whole book cover to cover because there wasn’t a bookmark to be found.
“A startingly funny and deeply satisfying satirical novel that makes the Canadian political scene accessible from the female perspective, behind the scenes at the top of the hill.
Torn from the headlines, Sussex Drive is a rollicking, cheeky, alternate history of big-ticket political items in Canada told from the perspectives of Becky Leggatt (the sublimely capable and manipulative wife of a hard-right Conservative prime minister) and just a wink away at Rideau Hall, Lise Lavoie (the wildly exotic and unlikely immigrant Governor General)—two wives and mothers living their private lives in public.
Set in recent history, when the biggest House on their turf is shuttered not once, not twice, but three times, Becky and Lise engage in a fight to the death in a battle that involves Canada’s relationship to the United States, Afghanistan and Africa. The rest of the time, the women are driving their kids.
From Linda Svendsen’s sharp and wicked imagination comes a distaff Ottawa like no other ever created by a Canadian writer, of women manoeuvring in a political world gone more than a little mad, hosting world leaders, dealing with the challenges of minority government, and worrying about teen pregnancies and their own marriages. As they juggle these competing interests, Becky and Lise are forced to question what they thought were their politics, and make difficult choices about their families and their futures—federal and otherwise.”
Here are the next 10 on our list for the PPL Patron’s Choice Award:
The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck
Moloka’i by Alan Brennert
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler
Jack by Marilynne Robinson
Please keep sending us your choices!