The biggest surprise - and disappointment - that life holds is that it is over so fast. The golden tomorrow, to which most people (usually women) put off their hopes rarely appears. This is the lesson learned by Helen McLean in her memoir.

Details from a Larger Canvas is about a woman with the expectations of her time and class heavy upon her shoulders; in short, she is supposed to be much the same woman as her Rosedale matron mother-in-law whose life was bound up in sets of rules and whose life had little expression except in the form of materialistic acquisition and censure. Instead, Helen creates her own life - and, while painting a portrait of Margaret Laurence, finds a woman with whom she has common ground.

Helen McLean was a Toronto author and artist. She wrote the memoirs Sketching from Memory (1994) and Details from a Larger Canvas (2001), a collection of essays, Just Looking (2008), and two novels, Of All the Summers (1998), and Significant Things (2003), which was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Prize, Canada & Caribbean division. Her book reviews, essays and commentaries have appeared in many publications including The Albertan, The Globe and Mail, Brick, National Post, Quill & Quire, Arts and Letters Daily, Books in Canada, Ars Medica, and the Literary Review of Canada. From the late 60s to early 90s, her paintings appeared in solo exhibitions in Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Peterborough, and Montreal, and found their way into many private and public collections, including that of the Bank of Canada in Ottawa. Her portrait of Margaret Laurence hangs in the Margaret Laurence Home in Neepawa, Manitoba.

Helen McLean's profile page

It's a shame younger readers are more often drawn to tales of hedonism and tragedy when it comes to the lives of artists, because here is a quiet parable about the importance of making room for what matters to the soul.

The Globe and Mail

Details from a Larger Canvas, McLean's third book, is entertaining, even poignant, in places, and the writing sparkles.

The Vancouver Sun