Marianne Ackerman’s second collection of stories for Guernica puts the focus on women, their ascent into selfhood, the beauty and carnage of the their journey. Literary Montreal is the setting of two stories spun around an alpha poseur, George. Picking up from the Gothic shadows of Albert Fine in Holy Fools (Guernica, 2014), Ackerman follows the lives of an Ontario farm family marked by a bloody incident they struggle to understand. Four interlocking stories plumb the secrets of one man’s sister, ex-wife, friend and mother. Sardonic and often funny, these tales follow the byways of aspiration and self-deception, casting light on all.

A long-time Montrealer, Marianne Ackerman was born in Belleville, Ontario. She has an MA in drama from the University of Toronto and studied French at the Sorbonne. Her three published novels include the best-seller Jump. A frequently produced playwright, her new comedy Triplex Nervosa will be part of the Centaur Theatre’s 2014-15 season. She is publisher of the online arts magazine Rover, found at www.roverarts.com. The novella and stories in Holy Fools mark her first foray into short fiction.

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Jennifer Dale is a Canadian television actor.

Jennifer Dale's profile page

“A pleasure to read. These clear-eyed stories of women's lives are told with no romantic haze. Intelligent, beautifully crafted, spiked with humour." – Elise Moser, author of Because I Have Loved and Hidden It