One Day It Happens
- Publisher
- Inanna Publications & Education Inc.
- Initial publish date
- Apr 2007
- Subjects
- Short Stories (single author), Gender Studies, General
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781926708614
- Publish Date
- May 2007
- List Price
- $9.99
Library Ordering Options
Description
One Day It Happens is an eclectic collection of short stories by Mary Lou Dickinson, which deal in myriad forms with communication or lack thereof in the lives of the characters. One of the universal factors in human existence is the need to connect with one another. When these characters fail to do so, it is the result of fear, of loneliness, of violence, of impending death. Sometimes they succeed in spite of everything to reach a place of insight and understanding, usually in unexpected ways and to their own surprise. About some of the stories: Margaret, in "The Empty Chair," almost 90 and lonely after the death of her husband, has a bizarre sexual encounter with a man living in the same retirement home. In "A Country Weekend," a visit to the family cottage prompts a terrifying and almost fatal swim across the lake. A writer in "Hello, Angel," imagines and fears the sexual assault and abduction of a young girl by his next door neighbour. "From the Front" explores the typical day of a telephone crisis counsellor. Eva, in "White Sails on Lake Ontario," at last takes steps to leave an abusive relationship. In "The Train Ride," Joe, who rides the train in order to have conversations with people, fails to connect with a fellow passenger. Libby, in "One Day It Happens," visits a friend whose husband is recovering from a heart attack, making all of them feel vulnerable and close to death in a number of ways.
About the author
Mary Lou Dickinson grew up in northern Quebec and migrated to Toronto via Montreal and Michigan. She studied Arts at McGill University and Library Science at University of Toronto before discovering workshops and residencies in creative writing. Her fiction has been published in the University of Windsor Review, Descant, Waves, Grain, Northern Journey, The Fiddlehead, Impulse, Writ and broadcast on CBC Radio. Her writing was also included in the anthology, We Who Can Fly: Poems, Essays and Memories in Honour of Adele Wiseman. Inanna published a book of Dickinson's short stories, One Day It Happens, in 2007, and her first novel, Ile D'Or, in 2010, both to excellent reviews in The Globe and Mail, among others.