February, By Lisa Moore

Even within Canada's starry spectrum of fiction, Newfoundland writers stand out. Lisa Moore's firm grip and fine craft make something special from this novel of disaster and its aftermath. Helen's husband Cal was among the 84 victims on an oil rig that sank in a storm off the coast in 1982.

Now her loss still shapes her life as vagabond son John squares up at last to parenthood. Assured double-time plotting, and supple, graceful prose, set the long work of grief against a changing world that widens horizons while leaving old wounds still open. Yet a happier future will resist the "virulent and ravenous" past.