These loosely linked stories read like a novel. Lives are given form by the past but undergo change as the world reshapes beliefs and circumstances. Focusing on recurrent, related characters with a common reality: small town Mennonite life, this powerful collection connects us to the author’s own background and experiences.

MITCHELL TOEWS has placed work in 100 literary journals and anthologies since 2016. A three-time Pushcart Prize nominee, Mitch was a finalist in The 2021 Writers’ Union of Canada’s (TWUC) Short Prose Competition for Emerging Writers and the 2022 Humber Literary Review/CNFC Canada-wide Creative Nonfiction contest. He was also shortlisted for the 2022 J.F. Powers Prize for Short Fiction. Mitch and his wife Janice live in their 1950 cabin in the Whiteshell Park and may be found on the water, trails, or in the wild air. More conveniently, catch him at Mitchellaneous.com.

Mitch Toews' profile page

“Toews’ linked stories present us with a boisterous and poignant family saga unlike any other in Mennonite literature.” – Armin Wiebe, author of The Salvation of Yasch Siemens

“Imbued with the turbulence of an ancestral river, the joy of a toboggan careening down an icy run, and the despair of dreams broken on a distant hockey rink, Mitchell Toews’ stories ask universal questions, about belonging, conforming and dissenting, all the while rooted in the snowdrifts and sun-drenched fields of a small prairie town. The answers emerge hot from the oven, fragrant like the zwieback buns of the title: we find ourselves in our family, and memories, and forgiveness, as familiar and soothing as the worn leather of a much-loved baseball glove.” – Zilla Jones, Journey Prize winner and finalist for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers

“Toews has that rare talent for touching your heart and being funny, too.” – Ralph Friesen, author of Between Earth & Sky: Steinbach’s First 50 Years