Cherry Bites
2 journalers for this copy...
The author of this book as well as Karen Dudley and Michael van Rooy, who are all mystery writers living in Winnipeg, took part in a panel discussion in celebration of Manitoba Book Week at Whodunit Mystery Bookstore on April 23, 2007. After a very interesting discussion I decided to pick up a book by each of the authors.
This is not your conventional whodunit type of mystery but I thought it was very well done indeed. It perhaps was more interesting to me because it is set in Winnipeg in the Norwood area which is an area I know quite well. Alison obviously knows it inside and out and describes the houses, people and businesses to a T.
Cherry Ring grew up in a house on Monck Avenue with her mother, Nora, father, Murray, and brother, Pete. Cherry was about 3 years old when Pete was born. Pete was a fussy baby and Cherry grew tired of hearing him scream nonstop. One day when she was on the porch playing and Pete was there, crying as usual, she went over and bit him on the cheek. Hence the name of the book. Pete had to have a skin graft taken from his buttock and so Cherry, with the cruelty that only a child can use, called him Assface. No-one outside the family knew how Pete sustained the injury but the nickname stuck. Pete repaid Cherry by ignoring her for the entire time they lived in the same house. He didn't talk to her, he didn't play with her and, in fact, he seemed to just not see her. When they were both still young their father died and Cherry was bereft. Her mother provided food and clothing but no emotional support. When Dougwell Jones, her mother's long time lover, was finally free to marry Nora he suggested they move to Vancouver for a fresh start. By this time Cherry was in University and didn't want to leave Winnipeg. She begged her mother not to sell the house and let her live in it. Thus Nora, Pete and Dougwell moved to Vancouver and Cherry never saw them again. In 1973 Nora phoned to tell Cherry that Pete had committed suicide. Years later, after Nora had died herself, three things happened that threw Cherry's life into disarray. Need to know what they were? Read the book, I'm not going to spoil the plot for you.
This was my fourth read for John Mutford's 3rd Canadian Book Challenge, Eh? Alison has written two other books set in the Norwood area. I'm going to have to try to get my mitts on them.
Cherry Ring grew up in a house on Monck Avenue with her mother, Nora, father, Murray, and brother, Pete. Cherry was about 3 years old when Pete was born. Pete was a fussy baby and Cherry grew tired of hearing him scream nonstop. One day when she was on the porch playing and Pete was there, crying as usual, she went over and bit him on the cheek. Hence the name of the book. Pete had to have a skin graft taken from his buttock and so Cherry, with the cruelty that only a child can use, called him Assface. No-one outside the family knew how Pete sustained the injury but the nickname stuck. Pete repaid Cherry by ignoring her for the entire time they lived in the same house. He didn't talk to her, he didn't play with her and, in fact, he seemed to just not see her. When they were both still young their father died and Cherry was bereft. Her mother provided food and clothing but no emotional support. When Dougwell Jones, her mother's long time lover, was finally free to marry Nora he suggested they move to Vancouver for a fresh start. By this time Cherry was in University and didn't want to leave Winnipeg. She begged her mother not to sell the house and let her live in it. Thus Nora, Pete and Dougwell moved to Vancouver and Cherry never saw them again. In 1973 Nora phoned to tell Cherry that Pete had committed suicide. Years later, after Nora had died herself, three things happened that threw Cherry's life into disarray. Need to know what they were? Read the book, I'm not going to spoil the plot for you.
This was my fourth read for John Mutford's 3rd Canadian Book Challenge, Eh? Alison has written two other books set in the Norwood area. I'm going to have to try to get my mitts on them.
I passed this on to my niece who grew up in the Norwood area. I hope she enjoys this book.
I found this book in our "workplace library" a place where previously read books lay.I picked it up and started reading....I found I could not put it down!!I like the way it is written because of all the familiar landmarks.I actually felt like I was able to imagine myself following Cherry as she was looking for her brother!!!I had never heard of the author Alison Preston and to think she lives in Winnipeg.Sometimes we just don't realize the hidden talents that live among us.I will definitley
look for her two other books,The Rainbarrel Baby and The Geranium Girls.
look for her two other books,The Rainbarrel Baby and The Geranium Girls.
