I’m pleased to announce the book launch of A House Full of Strangers: Based on True Stories. This short story collection, set in Winnipeg during the 1940s and 1950s, is about Ukrainian immigrant landladies, their families, and the people who rented rooms from them. The historical fiction paperback and ebook are available on every major bookseller website.
What’s in the Book?
A House Full of Strangers is my first short story collection—two novellas and eleven short stories—and another historical fiction book I thought I’d never write. My trilogy—Lukia’s Family Saga: Sunflowers Under Fire, Lilacs in the Dust Bowl, and Paper Roses on Stony Mountain—were also books I never planned to write. But it’s the way it works. Writers don’t always consciously choose their stories. Sometimes the stories choose them. The characters speak and as a writer, you feel compelled to write them down.
I hadn’t realized until recently that my life growing up with strangers living overhead wasn’t that common. I never thought much about it, except one time, when I was in university and my date, after driving me home, called my house “Psycho.”
I was appalled, and hurt.
Many of you don’t remember the movie“Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock, but it was a horror film. And yes, there was a big old house that housed this odd woman with her adult son. I recall being in the theatre and screaming out loud during the famous shower scene, acted by Janet Leigh.
To me, my home was not scary in the least, despite it being a house full of strangers. The roomers lived on the second and third floors of my home, and they were all young women, mostly in their twenties and thirties. They’d come to the city from rural areas to study or find a job. (By the way, in the photo used for my cover, my friend Sylvia stands with my mother and father in front of the third rooming house I lived in.)
I was born in a rooming house, again, a house full of strangers, one Mom and Dad rented in the North End of Winnipeg. They worked six days a week at various jobs to save enough money to buy one of their own. We moved to the second one when I was five and then three years later, moved across the city to a three story home, formerly owned by a minister. The one my date called Psycho. 🙂
The stories in A House Full of Strangers are woven with my memories and imagination. In the book, you’ll find a wide range of tales that include the sad, the tragic, the inspirational, the comical, the sweet, and the sexy.
Early Reviews
I’m thankful for some early reviews.
Carol Thomson with Readers Favorite gave my book, A House Full of Strangers, a five star review.
“ The variety of tones across the stories keeps the collection engaging, moving between serious, uplifting, and occasionally playful moments. “
And the Editor-in-chief of The Seaboard Review of Books was also complimentary.
An Excerpt: The Opening Pages
Something in the Blood
With the boys finally asleep, Irene Melnyk sat down at the Arborite kitchen table to write the letter she didn’t want to write. She filled her fountain pen from the bottle of black ink by her writing pad, then stared out the window at the snow-covered backyard where the children’s sled lay half-buried. The evening light was fading, and the sky was slowly turning an inky blue. Their neighbours had switched on the lamps in their living rooms, perhaps reclining in an easy chair to read, or listen to a soap opera on the radio. No music or stories played in Irene’s house. It seemed almost too quiet for the storm in her mind. Should she or shouldn’t she write this letter?When she looked down at the stationery pad, her hand was shaking. She told herself to calm down if she wanted to write anything legible. This was too important a letter to mess up.
How had it come to this? The world she inhabited no longer seemed to be hers. She’d been walking about in a trance ever since the doctor had given her the news she’d feared. She tried to stay cheerful for her children’s sake and, of course, for Nick, but her grim thoughts pushed any cheer aside. Just yesterday, she had been so caught up with her thoughts that she burned her hand on the element while stirring cabbage soup on the stove, and then, on a visit to the grocery store, she teared up when a neighbour simply said hello. She mumbled an apology before walking away. Grab a hold of yourself, Irene, she said to herself. You’re twenty-four, and you’ve got two children who depend on you. Yes, she had them and a very sick husband.
Putting her grim thoughts aside, she picked up her cigarette from the amber glass ashtray and flicked off the long ash that had accumulated. She took a long puff and blew out a ribbon of smoke. Opening the pad of paper, she began to write on the blank page. First, the date, then Dear Mama. The ink wasn’t even dry on the page when she scratched out Dear Mama. She crumpled the paper in her fist and threw it into the wastebasket by the door. It bothered her to call her mother “Dear” as they hadn’t been on good terms when she left home at nineteen to be with Nick, who’d taken a job thousands of miles away. And with the distance, their relationship hadn’t improved.
She leaned back in her chair and snorted. Leaving home years ago had been a risky move, but she’d proven her mother wrong. “He’ll never marry you,”her mother had said. Irene replied with some choice words—under her breath, of course—and packed her bags. But Nick had married her when he’d seen her condition. He immediately went with her to City Hall, where the justice of the peace sealed his fate, and hers. Being a decent fellow, Nick never even asked—like some guys might—if the baby was his. It was, but she was grateful he never asked.
The only regret she had was getting married in a civil ceremony in a suit—not in a white wedding dress, like her sister—and not in a church with her family around her. Not that she was religious. She wasn’t, but her mother and oldest sister were. Irene had stopped believing in God long before she’d met Nick. Praying changed nothing,she thought. And with doom and gloom on the horizon, what choice did she have? Still, she remembered wondering if she was making a terrible mistake.
Irene exhaled deeply as if she had lifted a heavy load, then turned her attention back to the well-used writing pad her friend Rosie had given her. There were only a few pages of the paper left, and Irene had no money to buy more. As it was, she’d have to borrow the money for the train trip back to Winnipeg. Not just for her ticket, but for Nick’s and the boys’, too. That is, if Mama said yes.
She smoothed the fresh sheet of paper with her hand and started again. This time, she left Dear Mama on the page. Sighing, she wrote, I know I haven’t written for a while. You know what it’s like with two little boys. She paused. She wanted to crumple up this page, too. At least erase the last sentence. Her mother had seven children and managed a rooming house with no help from Irene’s father. Of course, she would know what it was like to raise two boys. She’d probably say, “What’s two boys? Look what I have to deal with!” Yes, she’d say something all right. And Irene couldn’t blame her.
Not wanting to waste any more paper, Irene pursed her lips, steadied her hand, and wrote: I’d like to come home with Nick and the boys. He’s so sick, Mama. He’s been coughing up blood, and I’m afraid of what lies ahead. The doctor here thinks it’s his heart, but he’s not sure. He said something about maybe a blood clot in the lungs. It’s very serious. I know you have a houseful, and …
Where to Buy A House Full of Strangers
You can ask your library to bring it in for you or you can order it through your favourite bookstore. You can give them the title and author name. And if need be, you can give them the ISBN (International Standard Book Number) 978-1-988180180-26-7
The ebook and paperback of A House Full of Strangers are available for sale on all major online booksites Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Chapters Indigo, Apple, Bookshop.org, and more
Thank you for stopping by.
