New book: My Best Friend was Angela Bennett by Suzanne Hillier

Hi, Brian.

It’s been a long time, much too long as a result of breaking my back last year and this damn pandemic. I thought you might mention in your news letter that my second novel My Best Friend was Angela Bennett was virtually launched by Inanna Publications on June 24th, 2021. 

It’s a WW11 novel of love, loyalty and survival, and has been said to be harrowing, funny, tender and unforgettable. It’s available at most small book stores and through Indigo and Amazon.

Please don’t hesitate to mention I’ve attended many of your workshops, and have enjoyed and benefitted from my attendance!

Hopefully you’ve been able to survive Covid, and things are going well for you and your family.

Best,

Suzanne

 

My Best Friend was Angela Bennett 

by Suzanne Hillier

Two high school friends take very different paths during WWII. The traditional Angie falls in love forever with a sailor, whose life is suddenly ended by a German torpedo, while her friend Dorothy attempts something unheard of in the forties: going to law school.

Newfoundland during the wartime forties was hardly Rosie the Riveter Country. So, when Angie loses her sailor lover and marries the boy next door – who turns out to be a sexual sadist – she fears there is no way out. She turns to her friend Dorothy, a woman lawyer at a time when such aspirations seemed impossible. But it’s what happens after that, in a world where feminism did not exist, that’s surprising – and unsettling.

This novel is a tale of loss, female friendship, and of a time long past, when being a woman had few advantages, and many disadvantages. Filled with tragedy, magic realism, and humour, this novel paints a picture of women’s lives in the forties, and of the prevailing and enduring power of female friendship.

Available from Chapters here, from your local independent bookstore here, or directly from the publisher here.

For more information on submitting to Inanna Publications, see here.

See Brian Henry’s upcoming weekly writing classes, one-day workshops, and weekend retreats here.