sewn paper
e-mail the Author
FICTION
May 2008
288 pages
EAN 978-0-88984-301-1
$27.95
Sailor Girl
Sheree-Lee Olson
Sailor Girl is both coming-of-age tale and love poem to
the natural world. Set on the grainboats of Canada's Great Lakes
in the summer of 1981, it follows the literal and figurative journey
of Kate McLeod, a rebellious photography student looking to earn
money for school. Using tight, salty dialogue and gripping description,
the book renders a sharp-edged portrait of life lived
on the edges of society. It is also a love story in which a middle-class girl finds
a deep connection with the unruly young men and tough-minded
women of the lakes. Life on the water is physically and socially
restrictive, and Kate
kicks against the rules, both written and unwritten. Sailor Girl is a
uniquely Canadian story, one that preserves a vanishing part of our heritage.
`A powerful debut that depicts the commotion and raw intensity of
youth, and -- without ever romanticizing -- captures the
romance of the sweetwater seas, those ``Great Lakes like giant
footprints climbing to the centre of the continent''. Hardly
a page passes without a fresh image or metaphor, a striking
phrase or insight -- and insight above all, because this is an
honest novel. And one to savour.'
-- Steven Heighton, author of The Shadow Boxer
`Olson understands the appeal of tough sex and wide open water. She's got a great
ear, too. Here is a book about a girl rebel written in prose that cuts to the quick.'
-- Katherine Govier, author of Three Views of Crystal Water
`I'd go anywhere with Kate McLeod, the raunchy and reckless protagonist of
Sailor Girl. Finally a Canlit heroine who
shows us that girls can drink like fish, work like dogs, swear like sailors
and still be good to the bone. Once you have clanked beer mugs with Kate,
I guarantee you will take her to bed and not put her down till dawn.'
-- Leah McLaren, author of The Continuity Girl
The single greatest source of fresh water on the planet, the Great Lakes have drifted far from the consciousness of those who depend on them. Sailor Girl is a timely reminder of the relevance and fragility of this precious resource, which irrigates the crops and slakes the thirst of half a continent. Just like the characters in Sheree-lee Olson's powerful novel, nature is neither as stable nor as benign as it seems: a calm lake can whip up a murderous storm, as a quiet man can become a killer.
Olson's protagonist, Kate, is our brave guide to the elemental forces -- wind, wild
weather, desire and violence -- that drive us. She strikes out from her safe suburban origins to the closed world of the lakes and learns what it is to be tested to her limits -- and beyond. With its dark family secrets and shocking climax, this is a novel that lingers in the mind long after one reads the last page.
