A heartland novel set in post-war rural Alberta, The Prisoner of Cage Farm evokes Canadian prairie classics like Martha Ostenso's Wild Geese and F. P. Grove's Settlers of the Marsh. The McFaddens are a well-to-do country family who occupy Thorncliffe Heights in rural Alberta. Across the road, the Cage Farm can barely keep its household together. Still, Lewis McFadden, war veteran and incurable romantic, is hopelessly infatuated with the beautiful and mysterious Isabel Cage. Enter Emiline Thomas who answers a newspaper ad to be Isabel's tutor at the Cage Farm. Coming from big-city Toronto, Emiline is soon exposed to the harsh and uncompromising effect of the prairie landscape on her ability to survive an isolating and lonely experience. In a time before electricity, paved roads, and reliable vehicles, the clash between Emiline's urban upbringing and the Cage's monotonous prairie existence is inevitable. In this vast expanse of loneliness, a secret within Emiline unleashes a tragic chain of events that begs the question: who exactly is the prisoner of Cage Farm?

Frey's novel disrupts the legacy of stereotypical notions of prairie life while building on gothic genres of great writers of the past like the Brontë sisters.

Cecelia Frey was born in Northern Alberta, grew up in Edmonton and now lives in Calgary. Her short stories and poetry have been published in dozens of literary journals and anthologies as well as being broadcast on CBC radio and performed on the Women’s Television Network. Her last novel, A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing, was shortlisted for the 2009 Writers Guild of Alberta Fiction Award and she is a three-time recipient of the WGA Short Fiction Award. She has also won awards for play writing. Cecelia is the author of poetry collections: the least you can do is sing; Songs Like White Apples Tasted; And Still I Hear Her Singing; Reckless Women; and Under Nose Hill; short story collections: The Nefertiti Look; The Love Song of Romeo Paquette; and Salamander Moon; and novels: Breakaway; The Prisoner of Cage Farm; A Fine Mischief and A Raw Mix of Carelessness and Longing. Her play, The Dinosaur Connection, was produced on CBC’s Vanishing Point series.

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