Down by the Bay

The Ladies' Lending Library

Janice Kulyk Keefer

Harper Collins

I'm not sure what any of you are like in terms of your book buying habits, but I always seem to have more novels on my shelves than I could possibly hope to read within a given period. Occasionally, it makes me feel so guilty that I place a temporary ban on the bookstore in an attempt to whittle down the queue. The subject of this week's blog entry had been sitting in the "to be read" pile for months and from the title, I thought it was going to be a bit of a snoozer. Happily I can report that I couldn't have been more wrong!

The Ladies' Lending Library tells the story of a group of immigrant women who spend their summers with their children on the shores of Georgian Bay. During the week, the women supervise the kids, gossip, read trashy romances, and get everything ready for their husbands to join them at their respective cottages on the weekend. Set in the early 60s, the book deals with all sorts of themes -- love, connectedness, assimilation, independence, individuality and passion. In fact, the subtext of this novel -- the tensions between the immigrant and first generation Canadian experience -- is very similar to what was explored in the Lewycka's A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian. Both are perfect candidates for a thinking woman's book club. Three sun-kissed days out of five.