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WHEN SHE WAS ELECTRIC (POLESTAR $21.95)
Andrea MacPherson, who started writing at age six, is yet another published graduate of UBC's acclaimed Creative Writing program.
Prior to completing her first novel, When She Was Electric (Polestar $21.95), set in Merritt, she took classes from Keith Maillard and George McWhirter.
"The professors are writing now-they're living what you're living,"; she says. "And once a few students get publishing deals, there's shared information. That's how I got the contact for my agent.";
When She Was Electric explores the relationships between three female generations, who spend a WW II summer on the Petrie family ranch in the B.C. interior. Nellie and Min are full-grown women, yet sneak out their bedroom window at night to meet men. The adjoining Shulus native reserve attracts Petrie women from two generations-and becomes the focus of a police investigation.
Min's daughter is Ana, the narrator, is struggling with the death of a younger sister who died from eating poisonous berries. It would help Ana if her mother Min weren't so aloof. "[Min] sucked on a cigarette then, the ember brightening, and she was suddenly caught in the orange light, her features ethereal. She exhaled slowly, the smoke circling her head, and she was bathed in night again.";
Once upon a time her mother had been vibrant, once upon a time she had 'burned as if she was electric.'
One night, Ana follows Min and discovers more than she bargained for. Her mother disdains men, yet she craves their attention. "She is sick of men. She wishes to be free of them, ashamed of her own ache for their hands and mouths on her. She turns on the tap and runs cold water over her wrists.";
Ana meets Joe, a boy from the reserve, and has secret encounters of her own. As she experiences sexual awakening, she begins to understand her mother's behaviour.
Overseeing them all, Grandma Petrie is both matriarch and patriarch. "When she was not in her plain, grey woolen dresses she wore an old pair of men's overalls, tight across her thick breasts and the wide bulge of her stomach it was Fran Petrie entirely, her own resolute, intimidating character, that seemed to announce, I am capable of anything. I will sustain all.";
MacPherson traveled to Merritt many times to research the novel. She works at a graphic design firm in Richmond. Her first book of poetry is forthcoming from Beach Holme Publishing. 1-55192-596-6
[SUMMER 2003 BCBW]
Prior to completing her first novel, When She Was Electric (Polestar $21.95), set in Merritt, she took classes from Keith Maillard and George McWhirter.
"The professors are writing now-they're living what you're living,"; she says. "And once a few students get publishing deals, there's shared information. That's how I got the contact for my agent.";
When She Was Electric explores the relationships between three female generations, who spend a WW II summer on the Petrie family ranch in the B.C. interior. Nellie and Min are full-grown women, yet sneak out their bedroom window at night to meet men. The adjoining Shulus native reserve attracts Petrie women from two generations-and becomes the focus of a police investigation.
Min's daughter is Ana, the narrator, is struggling with the death of a younger sister who died from eating poisonous berries. It would help Ana if her mother Min weren't so aloof. "[Min] sucked on a cigarette then, the ember brightening, and she was suddenly caught in the orange light, her features ethereal. She exhaled slowly, the smoke circling her head, and she was bathed in night again.";
Once upon a time her mother had been vibrant, once upon a time she had 'burned as if she was electric.'
One night, Ana follows Min and discovers more than she bargained for. Her mother disdains men, yet she craves their attention. "She is sick of men. She wishes to be free of them, ashamed of her own ache for their hands and mouths on her. She turns on the tap and runs cold water over her wrists.";
Ana meets Joe, a boy from the reserve, and has secret encounters of her own. As she experiences sexual awakening, she begins to understand her mother's behaviour.
Overseeing them all, Grandma Petrie is both matriarch and patriarch. "When she was not in her plain, grey woolen dresses she wore an old pair of men's overalls, tight across her thick breasts and the wide bulge of her stomach it was Fran Petrie entirely, her own resolute, intimidating character, that seemed to announce, I am capable of anything. I will sustain all.";
MacPherson traveled to Merritt many times to research the novel. She works at a graphic design firm in Richmond. Her first book of poetry is forthcoming from Beach Holme Publishing. 1-55192-596-6
[SUMMER 2003 BCBW]
Submitted on June 2, 2003 in By David.
