Book Cover: Published 2016 by Random House Canada

Lillian Tickles is an avid reader — one of the many in the Club to ask what they’ve been reading and make sure you add their recommendations to your growing reading list! She shared her favorite author this October 10th, and Janet Samber caught some highlights, below.

Carol Shields, born in Chicago in 1935, is a Canadian by choice. At the University of Exeter, she met and married Canadian Donald Shields and they lived mostly in Ottawa, Winnipeg and Victoria. Home life and raising five children was of prime importance to her but she noted that “writing keeps me stable”. She first published poetry but found poetry-to-prose an easy transition.  Her first novel, Small Ceremonies, was written during a sabbatical year in France. Swann, Lillian’s favorite, is a mystery which doesn’t conform to regular novel form and structure. Stone Diaries is Shield’s best-known novel, with its strong female character. Some critics feel that Shield’s writing is too domestic, too nice, but Lillian’s view is that is exactly Carol Shield’s strength.

For more insights, read Lillian’s  Presentation Summary of Carol Shields