{"product_id":"agassiz-stories-isbn-9780771014642","title":"Agassiz Stories","description":"The superbly crafted stories in this internationally acclaimed collection trace four generations of the Lafrenière family in the fictional small town of Agassiz, Manitoba, from the time of the great flood of 1950 to the present. There is Mika, the matriarch of the family, tired of being a mother to her children, and her Métis husband, Maurice, who is by turns fascinated and ashamed of his Native heritage. Their marriage has long been an uneasy truce. As their children grow up to pursue their own lives, the frustrations of one generation will collide with the dreams of another, and the past will leave an indelible mark on all that is to come. \u003ci\u003eAgassiz Stories\u003c\/i\u003e is at once funny and heartbreaking, and written with a rare, illuminating honesty.“In fiction what I long for is a sense of the story’s being alive – all hot, rude, contrary, funny, unbearable. You don’t get that nearly often enough, but in Sandra Birdsell’s work you do get it over and over again, and she has the energy, the faith, the skill, to make her stories overwhelm us.” \u003cbr\u003e–Alice Munro\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A remarkable achievement [that] confirms Birdsell’s position as one of the best short-story writers in the language.” \u003cbr\u003e–Alberto Manguel, \u003ci\u003eBooks in Canada\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Each piece is a model of economy; cumulatively, they resonate with the unsparing power of a memory mediated only by art.”\u003cbr\u003e–\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“In twenty-three well-crafted, emotionally resonant stories focusing on nearly every family issue under the sun, Birdsell has woven past and present into a disturbingly honest portrait of small-town and suburban life.”\u003cbr\u003e–\u003ci\u003ePhiladelphia Inquirer\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e“Impressive.…A masterful storyteller, able to render quiet moments of beauty and grace.…”\u003cbr\u003e–\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e (starred review)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Like Alice Munro, Sandra Birdsell writes of the trials of family, and of the past that clings to us no matter what efforts we make to scour it from our bodies and souls.…Sandra Birdsell is here to stay.”\u003cbr\u003e–W.P. Kinsella, \u003ci\u003eThe Reader\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Birdsell writes with the kind of emotional and psychological honest that distinguishes Munro’s work.…She has good insight into family relationships and the alternating loyalty, duplicity, jealousy, treachery and compassion of its members.…By the final story, we feel we know this family as well as any other in Canadian fiction.…Birdsell has us well and truly hooked.”\u003cbr\u003e–\u003ci\u003eGlobe and Mail\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e“An infinite pleasure.”\u003cbr\u003e–\u003ci\u003eMinnesota Daily\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cb\u003eSandra Birdsell\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Manitoba and, until recently, has spent most of her life in Winnipeg. Her first novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Missing Child\u003c\/i\u003e (1989), won the W.H. Smith\/Books in Canada First Novel Award. Her second novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Chrome Suite\u003c\/i\u003e (1992), and her most recent collection of short fiction, \u003ci\u003eThe Two-Headed Calf\u003c\/i\u003e (1997), were both shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction. Her two previous short story collections, \u003ci\u003eNight Travellers\u003c\/i\u003e  and \u003ci\u003eLadies of the House\u003c\/i\u003e, were reissued in 1987 as \u003ci\u003eAgassiz Stories\u003c\/i\u003e. Her most recent novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Russländer\u003c\/i\u003e (2001), won the Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction, the Saskatchewan Book Award for Book of the Year, and the Regina Book Award, and was a finalist for the Giller Prize.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSandra Birdsell’s fiction has been anthologized and has appeared in literary journals and \u003ci\u003eSaturday Night\u003c\/i\u003e magazine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShe lives in Regina.\u003ci\u003e \u003c\/i\u003e","brand":"Emblem Editions","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46304008405221,"sku":"NP9780771014642","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780771014642.jpg?v=1767721133","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/agassiz-stories-isbn-9780771014642","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}