FROM THE PUBLISHER

The superbly crafted stories in this internationally acclaimed collection trace four generations of the Lafrenière family in the fictional small town of Agassiz, Manitoba, from the time of the great flood of 1950 to the present. There is Mika, the matriarch of the family, tired of being a mother to her children, and her Métis husband, Maurice, who is by turns fascinated and ashamed of his Native heritage. Their marriage has long been an uneasy truce. As their children grow up to pursue their own lives, the frustrations of one generation will collide with the dreams of another, and the past will leave an indelible mark on all that is to come. Agassiz Stories is at once funny and heartbreaking, and written with a rare, illuminating honesty.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

This beautifully crafted assemblage of 23 stories chronicles the sometimes joyful, often difficult lives of the Lafreniere family of Agassiz, Manitoba. Canadian novelist Birdsell begins with the first generation--Maurice and his wife, Mika--and their ever-growing brood of children, shifting her narrative focus among these characters to provide alternate perspectives on family personalities and relationships. We see how Maurice's French and Indian heritages burden him with an inexpressible sense of social inferiority, how Mika's frustrations collide with her daughters' needs to pursue their own identities. As the collection progresses, Birdsell overlaps the experiences of several generations, with details provided earlier serving as essential background for a colorful, highly textured collage. Eventually the daughters, now grown, cope with adult problems and with the crises of their own offspring. Each piece is a model of economy; cumulatively, they resonate with the unsparing power of a memory mediated only by art. (Apr.)

Library Journal