Winter’s Tales Author Reading Series features Christine Higdon

The next writer in the Winter’s Tales Author Reading Series is a bright new star in Canada’s literary sky. A multi-talented artist, Christine Higdon is a graphic designer and rug hooker, as well as writer and editor. She will give a public reading from her debut novel, The Very Marrow of Our Bones, on Tuesday, October 30, at 7:30 pm in the Faculty Lounge of UPEI’s SDU Main Building.

Higdon describes herself as “A sister. A mother. A feminist. Daughter of a Newfoundlander and a British Columbian, I grew up surveying the world from the tops of trees near the Fraser River Delta. I learned design from my mother’s clothesline and my father’s garden. Winnie-the-Pooh and Stuart Little made me want to write.”

Now living in Mimico, near Toronto, she reconnects with her Atlantic Ocean heritage by visiting Nova Scotia. “When I am not writing, designing, or editing...I hook rugs, worry about the bees, and long for either ocean.” Speaking of what formed her, she says, “The Pacific Ocean taught me reverence. A nation of dedicated women and men taught me about social justice.”

As The Very Marrow of Our Bones opens in November 1967, two women, Bette Parson and Alice McFee, vanish without a trace from a working-class town on the Fraser River. Even the egg seller, Doris Tenpenny, whom everyone tells their secrets, hears nothing. Ten-year-old Lulu Parsons finds a note her mother left her father on the kitchen table. Lulu tells no one and buries the note in the woods. For the next forty years Lulu chooses solitude and detachment. But as novelist William Faulkner said, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” At age fifty, joined with Doris Tenpenny by odd circumstances, Lulu faces more than her own secret.

Higdon’s reading, with a reception and book signing, is sponsored by the UPEI Dean of Arts and Department of English, with generous support from The Canada Council for the Arts.

The University of Prince Edward Island prides itself on people, excellence, and impact and is committed to assisting students reach their full potential in both the classroom and community. With roots stemming from two founding institutions—Prince of Wales College and Saint Dunstan’s University—UPEI has a reputation for academic excellence, research innovation, and creating positive impacts locally, nationally, and internationally. UPEI is the only degree granting institution in the province and is proud to be a key contributor to the growth and prosperity of Prince Edward Island.