On the Shores of Darkness, There Is Light: A Novel

by Cordelia Strube

Overview

From the acclaimed author of Lemon comes a clever and heartbreaking new novel of love and revelation

Harriet is 11 going on 30. Her mixed-media art is a source of wonder to her younger brother, Irwin, but an unmitigated horror to the panoply of insufficiently grown-up grown-ups who surround her. She plans to run away to Algonquin Park, hole up in a cabin like Tom Thomson and paint trees; and so, to fund her escape, she runs errands for the seniors who inhabit the Shangrila, the decrepit apartment building that houses her fractured family.

Determined, resourceful, and a little reckless, Harriet tries to navigate the clueless adults around her, dumpster dives for the flotsam and jetsam that fuels her art, and attempts to fathom her complicated feelings for Irwin, who suffers from hydrocephalus. On the other hand, Irwin’s love for Harriet is not conflicted at all. She’s his compass. But Irwin himself must untangle the web of the human heart.

Masterful and piercingly funny, Strube is at the top of her considerable form in this deliciously subversive story of love and revelation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770412965
Publisher:	ECW Press
Publication date:	04/01/2016
Edition description:	No Edition
Pages:	376
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)
Lexile:	700L (what's this?)

About the Author

Cordelia Strube is an accomplished playwright and the author of nine critically acclaimed novels, including Alex & Zee, Teaching Pigs to Sing, and Lemon. Winner of the CBC literary competition and a Toronto Arts Foundation Award, she has been nominated for the Governor General's Award, the Trillium Book Award, the WH Smith/Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Prix Italia, and long-listed for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. A two-time finalist for ACTRA's Nellie Award celebrating excellence in Canadian broadcasting, she is also a three-time nominee for the ReLit Award.

Editorial Reviews

★ 02/22/2016
Harriet is an artist and an entrepreneur, destined for greatness if she could just free herself from the Shangrila—the rundown Toronto apartment complex where she lives. She spends her days dumpster diving for found-object art supplies and running errands for the elderly in her building, saving for her escape to the wilderness of Algonquin Park, where she wants to live and work in isolation, as the famous painter Tom Thomson did. She’s sick of being the only adult in her family, having to deal with her mom’s broke lawyer boyfriend and her younger brother’s hydrocephalus, withstanding all the chaos and noise, and being criticized and told she lacks compassion. It would be a lot for anyone to cope with, and Harriet is only 11. Strube, whose previous works (Lemon) have been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and other awards in Canada, captures a madcap sense of momentum and consequence that never falters or overwhelms. Each character is part of Strube’s deliberately constructed card tower, the building of which, as readers anticipate its eventual fall, provides the narrative with a tremendous amount of strength and personality. And though Strube imbues most interactions with some degree of comedy and sarcasm, the novel never lacks empathy. Its unexpected turn partway through is suitably wrenching, and the novel’s second half, decidedly different in tone and voice, becomes a beautiful echo of its first. Highly recommended. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

I fell in love with Harriet from the first chapter. She has the most unique way of looking at the world and the book is nearly laugh-out-loud funny at parts, but in the most morbid of ways. I was so moved by Harriet’s story and, even as my heart was breaking, I was so delighted to get to ‘meet’ her brother Irwin. This is a must read for me this year.” — Insomniac Bibliophile

“Fantastic.” — The Lost Bookmark

“This is one of the BEST books I have read in a very long time... This is one of those rare books that works much humour and lightheartedness into some really heavy subject matter in a completely appropriate and realistic way. Bravo, Cordelia Strube!” — Lit. Wit. Wine & Dine.

“A masterful blend of comedy and tragedy ... The tapestry of humanity that Strube presents is richly detailed and profoundly moving.” — Quill & Quire, starred review

“Strube captures a madcap sense of momentum and consequence that never falters or overwhelms. Each character is part of Strube’s deliberately constructed card tower, the building of which, as readers anticipate its eventual fall, provides the narrative with a tremendous amount of strength and personality.” — Publishers Weekly, starred

“Strube is the dark horse favourite to succeed Alice Munro as a chronicler of melancholy stories about teen girls.” — Toronto Life

“Dark, funny, crushingly sad, and breathtakingly hopeful.” — Becca in Halifax

“In some parts it’s funny, other parts poetic, others tragic. All of it very realistic.” — A Novel Haul

“Strube masterfully breathes life into her dynamic characters, allowing us to feel love, hate, and confusion with them... Thought-provoking and emotional, this novel is a must-read.” — Sad Hat Diaries

“It’s this sassy voice and not really like an 11-year-old would actually speak but it completely works. What is so beautiful about this story is that — at its heart — it’s a story about the relationship between siblings.” — CBC Radio’s Day 6 “Should I Read It

From the Publisher