Corinne Wasilewski is a new Mansfield Press author with a recently published novel called Live from the Underground. Last week, I attended Mansfield’s fall book launch, where I had the pleasure of hearing the author read and the opportunity to buy the book. (Full disclosure: Wasilewski is my sister.)
This is a thoughtful, well-written story with two main characters whom you can’t help but root for. One is a young male immigrant who finds himself in New Brunswick after fleeing Poland in the 1980s; the other is a young female Christian fundamentalist struggling to find meaning in her increasingly senseless world. The story and characters feel authentic, which is my number-one priority for quality fiction. Politics, relationships, theology, the Maritimes? What’s not to love here? Themes of loss and survival dominate as the characters find themselves subjected to forces beyond their control.
The editing isn’t as thorough as it could be (tight budgets are the norm in book publishing), but that didn’t affect my enjoyment of the novel one bit.
If you’re looking for a new voice in Canadian literature, Live won’t disappoint.