Reviews coming in:

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From The Miramichi Reader.

From Berfrois

From CJN (Canadian Jewish News) (review on page 16)

From Great Dark Wonder

From ESRA Magazine, Israel's English-language bi-monthly magazine, page 83.

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Zoomer magazine's 12 New Canadian Novels

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Interview about Wan in WordCity Journal

Interview in All Lit Up

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Eden Mills Writers' Festival panel, September 11, 2022

 

On a panel at Word on the Street, June 11, 2022 at 12 noon

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Wan, a novel

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A South African woman, an artist, unravels after an anti-apartheid activist, hiding from the police, moves into her garden house.

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The story grapples with questions of complicity and guilt, of privilege, and of the value of art and of life.

 

One of CBC Books's 15 historical fiction titles to read this summer.

One of CBC Books's most anticipated titles for May

One of CBC Books's titles to watch in their spring 2022 preview.

One of 49th Shelf's most anticipated Spring 2022 fiction titles.

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Advance praise for Wan

 

“Wan is a masterpiece. This beautiful, painterly, sublime, and sonically exquisite novel by Dawn Promislow is a work of utter genius.” 

—Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer, author of All the Broken Things

 

"A stunning, compelling read, Dawn Promislow’s first novel belongs to the literature of witness — an eloquent portrayal of a white South African woman in the apartheid era, one which speaks with a universal voice to our present moment. The author captures Jacqueline’s quiet but acute unease, as she and her husband negotiate a perilous world, the courage it asks of them, and the catastrophe that follows. This is riveting work, courageous and honest, written with moral engagement and deep reflection."

—Carole Giangrande, author of The Tender Birds and All That is Solid Melts Into Air

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"A very still but articulate woman speaks with great precision about her privileged life in apartheid South Africa. But the stillness is an illusion. Beneath her calm voice, political pressure is building and sexual tension is rising. The atmosphere in this...powerful novel is the literary equivalent of the highly charged atmosphere you feel before a major storm. I couldn't put this book down."        

—Antanas Sileika, author of Provisionally Yours

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"This exquisite novel insists on being read at the pace of its narrator's voice. An insistence I gave into like a warm spring, heated by the relentless tectonic shifts taking place beneath the surface."

—Darcie Friesen Hossack, Commonwealth Writers Prize shortlisted author of Mennonites Don't Dance

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ON SALE MAY 1, 2022

 

The book can be purchased from the publisher, Freehand Books, from your local independent bookstore, such as this one (or any other!), or from Chapters/Indigo and Amazon in Canada, or Amazon in the US or overseas. Public libraries across Canada also have the book and if they don't in your city/district, do ask them to acquire it!

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Photo taken at Type Books, Queen Street, Toronto, May 18, 2022:

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