Book Club is a welcoming, low-pressure space for anyone who loves a good story and friendly conversation. We meet once a month on a Monday to share our thoughts on a wide variety of engaging reads. This year, we’re exploring the works of Canadian authors, including fiction, memoirs, history, and other thought-provoking literary non-fiction.
There’s no expectation to attend every meeting - join when you can! And if life gets in the way and you haven’t finished the book, you’re still more than welcome to come and take part in the discussion. Our meetings are relaxed and collaborative, with everyone invited to share insights, ask questions, or simply listen.
Whether you’re a lifelong reader or just looking for a reason to read more, the Rosedale Centre Book Club is a great way to connect with others, discover new authors, and be part of a warm and welcoming community.
If you have an questions reach out to Caroline Duncanson at cduncanson@sympatico.ca
This month's book is In Winter I Get up at Night by Jane Urquhart:
"In the early morning dark, Emer McConnell rises for a day of teaching music in the schools of rural Saskatchewan. While she travels the snowy roads in the gathering light, she begins another journey, one of recollection and introspection, and one that, through the course of Jane Urquhart’s brilliant new novel, will leave the reader forever changed.
Moving as effortlessly through time as the drift of memory itself, In Winter I Get Up at Night brings Emer and her singular story to life. At the age of 11, she is terribly injured in an enormous prairie storm—the “great wind” that shifts her trajectory forever. . As she recovers, separated from her family in a children’s ward, Emer gets to know her fellow patients, a memorable group including a child performer who stars in a travelling theatre company, the daughter of a Dukhobor community, and the son of a leftist Jewish farm collective. The children are tended to by three nursing sisters and two doctors, whom the ever-imaginative Emer comes to call Doctor Angel and Doctor Carpenter.
Emer’s tale grows outwards from that ward, reaching through time and space in a dreamlike fashion, recounting the stories of her mother’s entanglement with a powerful yet mysterious teacher; her brother’s dawning spirituality, which eventually leads him to the priesthood; the remarkable lives of the nuns who care for her; and the passionate yet distant love affair of Emer and an enigmatic man she calls Harp—a brilliant scientist whose great discovery has forever altered millions of lives around the world.
In luminous prose, and with exhilarating nuance and depth, Jane Urquhart charts an unforgettable life, while also exploring some of the grandest themes of the twentieth century—colonial expansion, scientific progress, and the sinister forces that seek to divide societies along racial and cultural lines. In Winter I Get Up at Night is a major work of imagination and self-exploration from one of the greatest writers of our time."