The title of Jane Silcott's debut memoir Everything Rustles (Anvil 2013) is drawn from a Sophocles quote, "To him who is in fear everything rustles."; According to publicity materials, "Here is love, grief, uncertainty, longing, joy, desire, fury, and fear. Also wandering bears, marauding llamas, light and laundry rooms. This isn't a how-to guide to middle age and it's not a collection of memories either - for one thing, the author can't remember that much - for another, she's more interested in the places where the raw bones of the personal intersect with the wider world.";

Silcott co-edited, with Fiona Tinwei Lam, Love Me True: Writers Reflect on the Ins, Outs, Ups & Downs of Marriage (Caitlin $24.95), a collection of short stories and poems about the institution of marriage. It includes a story from Andreas Schroeder about him and life partner Sharon Brown, two people from the freewheeling 1960s who get married in 2007 after having lived together for more than 30 years and raising two children. He writes that while it is now fashionable to dump on the sixties, people forget how "anthropoidal" the fifties were. To make his point, he quotes "The Good Wife's Guide," published in Housekeeping Monthly in 1955, advising wives how to greet their husbands when they return from work: "Let him talk first - remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours. Don't complain if he's late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Arrange his pillow, or offer to take off his shoes. Speak in a low, soothing and pleasant voice. Don't ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him. A good wife always knows her place." After this quote, Schroeder pointedly comments, "I rest my case."

BOOKS

Co-editor with Fiona Tinwei Lam. Love Me True: Writers Reflect on the Ins, Outs, Ups & Downs of Marriage (Caitlin 2018) $24.95 978-1-9879-1566-2

Everything Rustles (Anvil 2013) $18 978-1-927380-41-3

[BCBW 2018]