“I am sometimes drawn to open-ended stories because they are closer to real life than those which wrap things up tidily at the end. Now, Luke is conflicted as to do what he knows is right, yet stay loyal to his friendship with Gracie and his budding love for her. Then, a confluence of circumstances serve to bring Gracie’s and her mother’s world crashing down. They soon become fast summer friends and the friendship continues on into school, where Gracie is instantly popular with the other girls. Her and her mother Raeline had just moved in to the old Sharpe place. That is, until he happens upon the spunky, curly-haired Gracie playing in his field. The town of Junction, Manitoba in the post WWII years is not a very exciting place to live for young Luke Haliwell. Sherrard’s books! I am reviewing these books together since they both take place in the fictional town of Junction, Manitoba in the mid 1940s, and Rain Shadow compliments some of the story lines in The Glory Wind, so for the most emotional impact, The Glory Wind should be read first, but this is by no means a requirement.

You know you are in for some good reading with Ms.

Rain Shadow (2014, Fitzhenry and Whiteside) is, at this writing, on no less than four shortlists: three for 2016 and one from 2015. The Glory Wind (2010, Fitzhenry & Whiteside) aside from being on several shortlists, was the winner of the 2011 Geoffrey Bilson Historical Fiction for Young People Award as well as Winner of the 2011 Ann Connor Brimer Award. Miramichi’s resident Young Adult (YA) author Valerie Sherrard has had many of her books shortlisted and awarded in various categories, and these two novels are no exception.

The Glory Wind by Valerie Sherrard