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Vendor
Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik
Original language
English

MEADOWLARK

Wendi Stewart

For upmarket women fiction readers of greats such as Crow Lake by Mary Lawson and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees, MEADOWLARK, a novel, is an astounding debut by Wendi Stewart, who has been mentored by one of Canada's very best, Lisa Moore.
When her family's car goes through the ice on Rainy Lake one cold March day in 1962, six-yearold Rebecca Archer is the only person her father is able to pull from the sinking vehicle. But as Rebecca grows up in a farmhouse haunted by the absence of her mother and baby brother, raised by a man left nearly paralyzed with grief, she wonders if her father really did save her after all.

Eventually, though, Rebecca finds solace in the company of her friends: Chuck, the sensitive son of a violently abusive father; and Lissie, an aboriginal girl being raised alone by a perfectionist white mother. As these three young people protect and support one another, Rebecca discovers that by saving Chuck and Lissie, she may also save herself.

In her debut novel, Wendi Stewart tells the luminous, deeply imagined story of a young woman's hard-won triumph over heartbreaking personal tragedy.

WENDI STEWART writes a weekly newspaper column with The Fort Frances Times where she waxes poetic on life's conundrums and she writes for The Chronicle Herald. She has had several short stories published in numerous journals and magazines, including The Antigonish Review. Her work has appeared in collections alongside the works of Joseph Boyden and Anthony de Sa. Wendi has been closely mentored by Lisa Moore and is a recipient of literary grants from the Ontario Arts Council and Arts Nova Scotia. Meadowlark is her first book.
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Published by NeWest Press

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"Meadowlark is remarkable for its distinctive, clear-voiced, endearing young characters ... a very promising debut."

"Wendi's writing is visceral, transparent, clean and thoroughly convincing. It cuts straight through to the imagination and the heart. It is honest and uncompromising. She will fast become known as a very talented writer both in Canada and abroad."

"Stewart's story reflects self-discovery in the midst of suffering. Meadowlark is a novel of tragedy infused with hope and survival."

“In pitch-perfect prose, Wendi Stewart delivers a nuanced, visceral portrait of small towns and family farms, memory and identity, and most achingly, the liberating beauty of friendship."

"Wendi Stewart's Meadowlark is lyrical and vivid, startlingly fresh writing about childhood and loss, decaying dreams, bravery and the everyday brutality that is sometimes visited upon the damaged and the innocent alike. It is about the fast, inviolate friendships that see us through. Stewart creates characters that will last. Here is ultra-wise and propulsive writing about all the small dramatic moments that loom large and make us quake."

"Wendi Stewart has a smart and compelling heroine in Rebecca Archer."

"Read it for Wendi Stewart's powerful evocation of loss and for the hope held throughout that these orphans will find some escape." Read more...