John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award, 2019

Saskatoon Award, 2021 Saskatchewan Book Awards

Glengarry Book Award Jury Short List, Recognition of Literary Excellence, 2021

In the early 20th century, as homesteaders in Saskatchewan are scratching out hard new lives on the Canadian prairie, William, an adventurer from New Zealand, brings his new bride, Louise, to the freshly broken earth of his farm near Watrous.

Physical and emotional isolation take their toll on everyone struggling to survive in the harsh landscape, and when William and Louise's second child, Violet, is born "feebleminded," it plunges Louise-a woman burdened with a dark secret-back into a time of shame and regret, even as the child draws out goodness and loyalty from her neighbours, Hank and Emily.

Then tragedy upends the family, and William, while struggling to raise and protect his daughter and find his way to forgiveness, must come to terms with the fact that no one is infallible.

KARIN MELBERG SCHWIER writes for and is the editor of Saskatoon HOME magazine; she is also a writer for Prairies North. She has written and co-authored six non-fiction and two illustrated children's books exploring the lives of people with disabilities. In 2013, Karin received a YWCA Women of Distinction Award (Arts, Culture and Heritage). Small Reckonings, her debut novel, was originally published by Burton House Books in 2020 and sold out of two printings. It was released in a revised edition in 2021 before coming to the Shadowpaw Press fold. It won the John V. Hicks Award (2019), a Saskatchewan Book Award (2021), and the Glengarry Book Award Jury Short List Recognition of Literary Excellence. Karin was thrilled to receive the John V. Hicks Award for Fiction in 2022, this time for the sequel, Inheriting Violet. Karin lives in Saskatoon.

Karin Melberg Schwier's profile page

• Winner, John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award
• Winner, Willa Award for Historical Fiction
• Short-listed, Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction

Literary Excellence, Glengarry Book Award

2021 Winner, Saskatchewan Book Awards

2019 Winner, John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award for Fiction



"Characters in this Watrous, SK-based historical novel-set between 1914 and 1936-are exquisitely and sympathetically drawn, the plot moves, and the portrait of this small town and its multi-ethnic pioneers rings true and clears as windchimes in a prairie breeze . . . This story succeeds so well because the writer's learned the tricky art of literary balance. As skilled as she is at penning descriptive scenes, they never slow the pacing of this taut novel. The book's structure is nuanced, and seemingly minor details-like a fishhook caught in an eye -have resonance. The characters are people we know . . ." - 
Shelley Leedahl


" . . . intricately told historical novel (with) modern connotations broaching our current conversation around trauma, consent, and sexual assault . . . Scenes linger, resonate in the mind." - 
Hicks Judges Elisabeth de Mariaffi and Rabindranath Maharaj



" . . . an excellently-rendered story to be treasured for its intense understanding of human plight and pluck, tenderness and trauma." - 
Saskatchewan Book Awards
 Judges

"With beautiful writing that will resonate with readers who know these prairie skies, but also with readers who long to explore this country of ours, this nuanced and powerful book is a stunning exploration of love, disability, family, and loss."
 - Alice Kuipers


"Small Reckonings is a graceful, poignant debut novel, with the strong character of Violet at its heart. Considered vulnerable by her community, she turns out to be feisty and courageous. Her story, and that of her family, unfolds against the sweep of prairie with compelling power. Karin Melberg Schwier has given us a novel to treasure." - 
Anne Simpson