In “The Observer,” Julia accompanies her RCMP constable husband, Hardy, to rural Medway, leaving behind city life. Julia becomes the local newspaper editor, documenting the town’s joys and sorrows. Hardy faces violence and exhaustion, and their once-adventurous life deepens into a poignant journey. Marina Endicott’s masterful storytelling reveals the fragility of life and law in a tightknit community.
Trevor Herriot’s The Economy of Sparrows connects today’s settler culture and natural science to their roots in colonial empire-building. As Nell Rowan finds the people who might help her come to some peaceful resolution of her life’s challenges, readers are faced with questions of how we engage with and value the natural world, how its truths illuminate both history and our present lives, and how we justify ourselves to the wild things of the earth.