{"id":7451,"date":"2026-05-09T16:16:32","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T23:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=7451"},"modified":"2026-05-22T11:24:22","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T18:24:22","slug":"a-house-full-of-strangers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2026\/books\/a-house-full-of-strangers\/","title":{"rendered":"Book Launch of A House Full of Strangers"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m pleased to announce the book launch of A House Full of Strangers<\/strong><\/em>: Based on True Stories<\/strong>. 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.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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What’s in the Book?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A House Full of Strangers<\/strong> <\/a><\/em>is my first short story collection\u2014two novellas and eleven short stories<\/strong>\u2014and  another historical fiction book I thought I’d never write. My trilogy\u2014Lukia\u2019s  Family Saga:<\/em> Sunflowers Under Fire, Lilacs in the Dust Bowl, <\/em>and Paper Roses on Stony Mountain<\/a>\u2014were 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was appalled, and hurt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many of you don’t remember the movie“Psycho” directed by Alfred Hitchcock,<\/strong> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"A<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stories in A House Full of Strangers <\/em>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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Reviews<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I’m thankful for some early reviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carol Thomson with Readers Favorite gave my book, A House Full of Strangers, <\/em>a five star review. <\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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“ The variety of tones across the stories keeps the collection engaging, moving between serious, uplifting, and occasionally playful moments. <\/strong>“<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the Editor-in-chief of The Seaboard Review of Books<\/strong> was also complimentary. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
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An Excerpt: The Opening Pages<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Something in the Blood<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

With the boys finally asleep, Irene Melnyk sat down at the Arborite kitchen table to write the letter she didn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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\u2019s house. It seemed almost too quiet for the storm in her mind. Should she or shouldn\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How had it come to this? The world she inhabited no longer seemed to be hers. She\u2019d been walking about in a trance ever since the doctor had given her the news she\u2019d feared. She tried to stay cheerful for her children\u2019s 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<\/em>, she said to herself. You\u2019re twenty-four, and you\u2019ve got two children who depend on you.<\/em> Yes, she had them and a very sick husband.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em>. The ink wasn\u2019t even dry on the page when she scratched out Dear Mama. <\/em>She crumpled the paper in her fist and threw it into the wastebasket by the door. It bothered her to call her mother \u201cDear\u201d as they hadn\u2019t been on good terms when she left home at nineteen to be with Nick, who\u2019d taken a job thousands of miles away. And with the distance, their relationship hadn\u2019t improved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She leaned back in her chair and snorted. Leaving home years ago had been a risky move, but she\u2019d proven her mother wrong. \u201cHe\u2019ll never marry you,\u201dher mother had said. Irene replied with some choice words\u2014under her breath, of course\u2014and packed her bags. But Nick had <\/em>married her when he\u2019d 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\u2014like some guys might\u2014if the baby was his. It was, but she was grateful he never asked. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only regret she had was getting married in a civil ceremony in a suit\u2014not in a white wedding dress, like her sister\u2014and not in a church with her family around her. Not that she was religious. She wasn\u2019t, but her mother and oldest sister were. Irene had stopped believing in God long before she\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019d have to borrow the money for the train trip back to Winnipeg. Not just for her ticket, but for Nick\u2019s and the boys\u2019, too. That is, if Mama said yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She smoothed the fresh sheet of paper with her hand and started again. This time, she left Dear Mama <\/em>on the page. Sighing, she wrote, I know I haven\u2019t written for a while. You know what it\u2019s like with two little boys. <\/em>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\u2019s father. Of course, she would know what it was like to raise two boys. She\u2019d probably say, \u201cWhat\u2019s two boys? Look what I have to deal with!\u201d Yes, she\u2019d say something all right. And Irene couldn\u2019t blame her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not wanting to waste any more paper, Irene pursed her lips, steadied her hand, and wrote:  I\u2019d like to come home with Nick and the boys. He\u2019s so sick, Mama. He\u2019s been coughing up blood, and I\u2019m afraid of what lies ahead. The doctor here thinks it\u2019s his heart, but he\u2019s not sure. He said something about maybe a blood clot in the lungs. It\u2019s very serious. I know you have a houseful, and <\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Where to Buy A House Full of Strangers<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ebook and paperback of A House Full of Strangers <\/strong><\/em>are available for sale on all major online booksites Amazon<\/a>, Barnes & Noble<\/a>, Kobo,<\/a> Chapters Indigo<\/a>, Apple, <\/a><\/strong>Bookshop.org<\/strong><\/a>, and more<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you for stopping by.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"I'm pleased to announce The Book Launch,of A HOUSE FULL of STRANGERS., a collection of short stories about Ukrainian immigrant landladies, their families, and the people who rented rooms from them. ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[744],"tags":[741,1289,416,78,1040,1295,1296,1297,1292,948,1293,816],"class_list":["post-7451","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-1950s","tag-a-house-full-of-strangers","tag-book-launch","tag-diana-stevan","tag-historical-fiction","tag-new-book","tag-novellas","tag-rooming-house-stories","tag-short-stories","tag-ukrainian","tag-ukrainian-immigrant","tag-winnipeg"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Seaboard-Revew-Image.png?fit=1080%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-1Wb","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7122,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2026\/writing\/what-does-love-have-to-do-with-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":7451,"position":0},"title":"What Does Love Have to Do With It?","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"15 \u041a\u0432\u0456\u0442\u043d\u044f, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Love in My Stories What does love have to do with it? I\u2019ve been thinking a lot about that, while I\u2019m preparing to launch A House Full of Strangers, my first collection of short stories, set in Winnipeg in the 1940s and 1950s. 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One of them, two weeks ago at Vishyvanka Day, organized by the Comox Valley Ukrainian Society as part of an annual event held worldwide to celebrate Ukrainian culture expressed through beautifully embroidered shirts\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/71J-9G9A7L._SY466_.jpg?fit=311%2C466&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7070,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2025\/books\/https-www-dianastevan-com\/","url_meta":{"origin":7451,"position":2},"title":"A Year of Hope and Frustration","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"8 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Where would we be without hope? It\u2019s what fuels our dreams and loves. 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