Böcker av Lee Kvern

In 1983, Elle is a blackjack dealer at an Alberta casino. At the same time, Amado is a baggage handler in Manila. When Amado witnesses the assassination of a prominent political figure in Manila, he flees to Canada and ends up in the same casino as Elle, disgruntled Hollander, Erik, and card counter and stalker, regrettable Calvin. Over the next thirty years, the characters remain intimately connected as their stories and histories intersect. Told from alternating points of view, this puzzle-in-progress brings each character's pieces together that make up a whole picture that examines how everything from political espionage to intimate partner violence affects not only its direct participants but also its bystanders and witnesses.

Lee Kvern''s much-anticipated new collection contains stories which revolve around humanity in all its flawed glory: an artist''s girlfriend dies by mistake; a mother holds surveillance on her son''s foray into drugs; a sibling''s jealousy toward her sickly brother; a father''s death; a mother''s fear for her unbridled, grade-two son; a woman with a hijab in the mordern world of Save-on groceries. An arborist, his wife and a Shar-Pei are in need of an attitude adjustment; a dying senior looks back over her life, her children, her lost love; RCMP and prostitutes come for tea on a Wednesday afternoon.

High Heels for Ken Veals is a coming-of-strength-story about a rowdy tribe of young sisters in a small Alberta town. Their life is influenced by the an adjoined RCMP barracks, and their daily routine is influenced by babysitters, goat-soft sweaters, constable crushes, and beefsteak tomatoes. Living in this small town, each girl-in-the-making must decide who she wants to be.