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118th out of 370 books
—
264 voters
Shelter
by
Frances Greenslade (Goodreads Author)
A spellbinding and wise coming-of-age story, Shelter draws readers into the precarious world of two young sisters in search of their mother, and brings to life the breathtaking B.C. landscape through which they travel.
Maggie Dillon lives with her family in a small, roughly furnished cabin in B.C.’s Chilcotin region, where the land and the native peoples who’ve always calle...more
Maggie Dillon lives with her family in a small, roughly furnished cabin in B.C.’s Chilcotin region, where the land and the native peoples who’ve always calle...more
Hardcover, 384 pages
Published
August 23rd 2011
by Random House Canada
(first published 2011)
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I loved this book overall. The story was set in the 70's, which is when I was a teenager myself so I could relate to some extent to the time-frame. However, the novel is set in a remote logging area of British Columbia and this made the story novel, exotic, fresh and thrilling for me. The author wonderfully described the natural setting in the story, really brought the environment to life and made the novel beautiful in a visual way, so much so that I am thinking about exploring that area! The c...more
In Shelter, a fiction novel, Frances Greenslade describes the setting of living in the wilderness of British Columbia so thoroughly that the reader feels as though they are actually there. The storyline is very interesting throughout, and makes the reader never want it to end. Shelter is one of the three books published by Frances Greenslade. Growing up in Ontario, Canada, and then moving to British Columbia herself, Frances Greenslade is able to relate to the characters by using very accurate d...more
I very much enjoyed the story of Maggie Dillon, a quiet, woodsy girl abandoned mysteriously by her mother in the early 1970s in rural British Columbia. Maggie and her sister Jenny (sweet, sunnny, popular) make due with tempermental and mean-spirited Bea, waiting for their mother to return. But when Jenny finds herself pregnant and shipped off to an unwed mothers' home in Vancouver, Maggie decides to stop waiting for things to happen and take charge of her life.
Frances Greenslade knows how to wr...more
Exceptionally well written-including vivid descriptions of the British Columbia landscape-Shelter tells the story of two pre-teenage sisters who lose their father in a logging accident, then several months later are abandoned by their free-spirited mother. The novels follows the time after Irene leaves her daughters Jenny & Maggie with a family who knew their father-promising to return after a summer working as a cook in a logging camp. As the months turn to years, the sisters struggle to fi...more
I won this book in a Goodreads giveaway.
"Shelter" is an amazing novel in that it is so powerfully realistic that it's agonizing at times. Maggie's narration is honest and straightforward, and through her story you glimpse the struggles of a girl to whom life has been unfairly harsh.
The character development in this novel is phenomenal. Maggie's quirks, worries, and flaws come together to make this unique character, but at the same time readers may well recognize aspects of themselves in her.
The...more
"Shelter" is an amazing novel in that it is so powerfully realistic that it's agonizing at times. Maggie's narration is honest and straightforward, and through her story you glimpse the struggles of a girl to whom life has been unfairly harsh.
The character development in this novel is phenomenal. Maggie's quirks, worries, and flaws come together to make this unique character, but at the same time readers may well recognize aspects of themselves in her.
The...more
Every now and then I find a book that I can’t put down. Equally infrequently I find a book that is painful to read, either because it is so realistic and the material is difficult for me to get through or because the book is not very well written. Shelter: A Novel by Frances Greenslade was painful for me to read and it fell into the realistic category. There is no doubt about it that Greenslade is a talented writer, but a book written about two girls who have what seems to them like a happy fami...more
Frances Greenslade uses the story of two abandoned girls to explore universal truths about women's lives and the relationships we build. Her ability to compassionately portray the decisions and behaviors of a wide range of mothers (none of whom is perfect) without condemnation or complete understanding is refreshing in its honesty and impressive in its brilliance.
Throughout the novel, Greenslade carefully navigates a fine line: while reinforcing the notion of the mother as the primary shaper of...more
Throughout the novel, Greenslade carefully navigates a fine line: while reinforcing the notion of the mother as the primary shaper of...more
Shelter by Frances Greenslade
(Now 40-something) Sisters Jenny and Maggie, were raised by their adoring Mother, and rugged logger Dad in a rustic cabin without electricity or running water. That early training is most likely at the crux of the survival skills the girls use to make it through the years after the sudden death of their Dad in a logging accident, soon after Maggie's tenth birthday. Not long after this mishap, their Mother disappears leaving the girls at a neighbor's house and not ret...more
(Now 40-something) Sisters Jenny and Maggie, were raised by their adoring Mother, and rugged logger Dad in a rustic cabin without electricity or running water. That early training is most likely at the crux of the survival skills the girls use to make it through the years after the sudden death of their Dad in a logging accident, soon after Maggie's tenth birthday. Not long after this mishap, their Mother disappears leaving the girls at a neighbor's house and not ret...more
“Shelter”
By Frances Greenslade
“Shelter” is about two sisters, Maggie and Jenny, growing up in the Pacific mountains during the early 1970’s. Living in a little rustic house with their parents, the girls think life is perfect. They are loved by their parents, sheltered from life and happy. Then tragedy strikes and the girls must contend with death, abandonment, and uprooting of their life.
The story is told from the point of view of Maggie, with early history being told to her by friends and relat...more
By Frances Greenslade
“Shelter” is about two sisters, Maggie and Jenny, growing up in the Pacific mountains during the early 1970’s. Living in a little rustic house with their parents, the girls think life is perfect. They are loved by their parents, sheltered from life and happy. Then tragedy strikes and the girls must contend with death, abandonment, and uprooting of their life.
The story is told from the point of view of Maggie, with early history being told to her by friends and relat...more
Forty years ago, two sisters were growing up, in a small town, set in the wild countryside of British Columbia. Maggie and Jenny Dillon lived in an unfinished cabin home with their quiet reliable father, Patrick, and their imaginative, free-spirited mother, Irene. A happy family.
Maggie tells their story. And she tells it beautifully. Her voice rang true and she made me see her world, her sister, her father, her mother. I understood how the family relationships worked, I understood what was impor...more
Maggie tells their story. And she tells it beautifully. Her voice rang true and she made me see her world, her sister, her father, her mother. I understood how the family relationships worked, I understood what was impor...more
This debut novel by Frances Greenslade hooked me from the beginning. With only a few pauses for sleep and food, I pretty much read this book straight through.
This story of two sisters who lose their dad and are abandoned by their mother is gripping and raw. One of the initial scenes focuses on Maggie’s dad teaching his young daughter how to build a shelter out in the wilds and telling her how that will protect her through a storm. The rest of the book is basically how Maggie is able to build sh...more
This story of two sisters who lose their dad and are abandoned by their mother is gripping and raw. One of the initial scenes focuses on Maggie’s dad teaching his young daughter how to build a shelter out in the wilds and telling her how that will protect her through a storm. The rest of the book is basically how Maggie is able to build sh...more
I read this book in one sitting as it just captured me. The speaker here is Maggie. She is looking back and telling the story of her childhood. Despite being the youngest daughter, Maggie was also a born worrier and her parents often reassure her. She spends time with her father in the woods where he teaches her to be self-sufficient and a resourceful camper. When her father is killed in a logging accident, Maggie's world is turned upside down. At first things her family seems to be adjusting we...more
Maggie and her slightly older sister Jenny live pretty happily, if a bit unorthodox, with their parents in the Pacific mountains. A logging accident takes the life of their father and that is when everything changes. The mother eventually leaves the girls with friends of the fathers, promising to pick them up after she finishes working as a cook at the logging camps. Although in the beginning she sends money and short letters to the girls eventually they hear nothing further from her. At one poi...more
Shelter by Frances Greenslade
ISBN: 9781451661101
Starts out when Maggie was being told from her dad how to build a shelter. He used to work in Oregon but traveled north to BC to live off the land and avoid the Korean draft. He had come over from Ireland and had enough battles.
He knew many ways to make a shelter and she watched.
Scene at the homefront reminded me of when we first moved to the island-we had to carry our 5 gallon buckets of water up the hill 300 yards and we had no heat for the fi...more
ISBN: 9781451661101
Starts out when Maggie was being told from her dad how to build a shelter. He used to work in Oregon but traveled north to BC to live off the land and avoid the Korean draft. He had come over from Ireland and had enough battles.
He knew many ways to make a shelter and she watched.
Scene at the homefront reminded me of when we first moved to the island-we had to carry our 5 gallon buckets of water up the hill 300 yards and we had no heat for the fi...more
Maggie and Jenny live a mostly carefree life in the Canadian wilderness with their spirited and adoring parents. But then their father is killed in an accident. Not long after, their mother loads them up and drops them off with family friends. They never see her again. When another trying time strikes the sisters, Maggie realizes she must search for the truth of what happened to their mother.
I'm kind of on the fence about this one. I picked it up at Midwinter on a whim, because it sounded like t...more
I'm kind of on the fence about this one. I picked it up at Midwinter on a whim, because it sounded like t...more
"Shelter", by Frances Greenslade, is a captivating story about two sisters’ bond in the search for their missing mother. I found this book so captivating because of how realistically Frances Greenslade wrote it. The story takes place in British Columbia in the 1970's. "Shelter" is a well-done novel that creates a clear and vivid picture in your mind of the sultry, green British Colombian forests. It includes very realistic, relatable, and likable characters who face and struggle with challenging...more
Maggie Dillon and her sister Jenny live with their parents in the Chilcotin, their father is a logger and their mother a homemaker. This is the story of Maggie, her relationship with her father, her cat, her mother and her big sister. The camping trips her mother takes them on are the stuff of magic. Conversely, the trips her father takes her on teach her necessary survival skills. Maggie sees the world with her own special lense and is wise beyond her years. When their father is killed in a log...more
Another tear jerk-er for sure. The story started out with a bit of foreshadowing and I knew it wasn’t going to be a happy go lucky type of book. The picture the author paints is of a family that has problems, but for the most part works them out and continues to enjoy their relationships. Of course the point of view is that of one of the children so memories surface from time to time of other then happy moments. Other moments that leads the reader to believe that everything wasn’t as it seemed.
T...more
T...more
This is an amazing story of two sisters as different as night and day, who drift apart for a short while as Jenny explores the things a 15 yr old does and Maggie who is younger and more mature gets a job to keep her out of the way of their caregiver, though the sisters need each other more than they realize what they need most is to find their mother, she dropped them off with strangers while she went to look for work and never came back.
After a few years and much talk Maggie and her best frien...more
After a few years and much talk Maggie and her best frien...more
"We napped under the sheltering branches of giant spruce trees and made tea from rosehips and spruce needles and sweetened it with honey. Mom kept some one-gallon glass jugs in the car and she knew where there were springs grown round with graceful willow. We knelt in the thick moss and caught the water in the jugs as it bubbled out. We swam naked in remote lakes and creeks. We sunbathed on warm rocks like wood nymphs"
This is the beautiful life that Maggie and Jenny live with their Mom who isn’...more
This is the beautiful life that Maggie and Jenny live with their Mom who isn’...more
Shelter: A Novel
by Frances Greenslade
Shelter is a deep look at a family in turmoil. Maggie and her sister Jenny are living with their parents life is a struggle for their parents to make ends meet but they manage. Then their father is killed at work leaving them with no money. Their mother needed to find work and she drops the girls off with a neighbour and friend of their father’s. Told from the younger daughter Maggie’s point of view, we feel all the emotions of children suddenly thrust into l...more
by Frances Greenslade
Shelter is a deep look at a family in turmoil. Maggie and her sister Jenny are living with their parents life is a struggle for their parents to make ends meet but they manage. Then their father is killed at work leaving them with no money. Their mother needed to find work and she drops the girls off with a neighbour and friend of their father’s. Told from the younger daughter Maggie’s point of view, we feel all the emotions of children suddenly thrust into l...more
I really liked this one and wish I could say 3 and a half stars. It's such an unusual story and set in a place/time I'm curious about but don't have any association with, a remote town in BC in the 70s. I think I like it because the descriptions and the people remind me of the rural area I grew up in, where "living off the land" was not so uncommon. The protagonist, Maggie, is impossibly spunky but a born worrier. Her sister Jenny is like night to her day but you also empathize with her and you...more
It's interesting how what you choose to read works with or against what you just read. I read Among Others a couple of books ago -- also about sisters in the 70s. Of course, these two books aren't terribly similar, but when it comes to relationships, the sisterly dynamic is one I like to read about most.
Shelter's main character, Maggie, is a worrier. I immediately liked her! One that worries, I can always relate to that. We meet her family -- her mom, her dad, her sister -- and then things go ba...more
Shelter's main character, Maggie, is a worrier. I immediately liked her! One that worries, I can always relate to that. We meet her family -- her mom, her dad, her sister -- and then things go ba...more
Sort of quiet, depressing book about two girls who grew up in a makeshift sort of way and whose mother abandons them. Shelter is an apt title as the main character, little sister Maggie, is certainly looking for protection physically and emotionally. It took me a bit of time to get into the storyline. The writing is solid but not necessarily grabby and the beginning is almost too quaint. However, the author does a good job evoking sympathy for the characters, including the unsympathetic one. A f...more
The setting for this novel is the beautiful and wild countryside of British Columbia. Two sisters, Maggie and Jenny live in a rustic cabin with their father and mother. Their father is a quiet, hard working man who is killed in a logging accident. Irene, their free spirited mother drops the girls off at a childless couple and promises to come back for them. She leaves to work as a baker at a logging camp. She sends letters, and money for a while. Then nothing. Maggie sets out to find her mother....more
:I would say that the title Shelter appropriately sums up what this book is about. It's the search for physical shelter, monetary shelter, emotional shelter. Maggie, Jennie, their mother, and many of the other characters are all searching for it in different ways. Will they find it? You have to read the book to find out.
This book was beautiful in many ways but I found myself having a hard time with the narrative coming from a preteen girl. It just never rang quite true to me. The story it self n...more
This book was beautiful in many ways but I found myself having a hard time with the narrative coming from a preteen girl. It just never rang quite true to me. The story it self n...more
(ARC received from the publisher for review on Literary Inklings.)
In Shelter Frances Greenslade offers a complex, achingly poignant creation that delves into the relationship of mothers and daughters, sisters, and womankind alike with a subtle grace and an honesty that fluctuates between the sentimental and unsentimental. There were three elements of Shelter that struck me the greatest: Greenslade’s characters, story and scenes. Her characters, from Maggie and Jenny to the scattering of women th...more
In Shelter Frances Greenslade offers a complex, achingly poignant creation that delves into the relationship of mothers and daughters, sisters, and womankind alike with a subtle grace and an honesty that fluctuates between the sentimental and unsentimental. There were three elements of Shelter that struck me the greatest: Greenslade’s characters, story and scenes. Her characters, from Maggie and Jenny to the scattering of women th...more
What is a family? Sisters Maggie and Jenny are the main characters in this novel that explores what this term really means. At an early age the sisters must confront loss when their father dies. Their mother Irene has a hard time coping and first leaves the girls with a neighbor and finally with a family friend. She promises to return for the girls as soon as possible. But time passes and what the sisters thought was just a temporary situation turns into something more permanent. Though very dif...more
I think after reading everyone else’s reviews here on Goodreads that maybe I missed something with ‘Shelter’. I didn’t connect with this book as I felt I may have just by the blurb on the book. It’s a bit depressing, and travels along a bit slow for me, although overall I did like the storyline. I’m not sure if I don't rave over it only because of the narrative of the pre-teen girl Maggie or not. The setting of the novel in the countryside of British Columbia in the early 70’s was beautiful thou...more
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I was born in the Niagara Peninsula and grew up playing in the orchards and vineyards around our family's hobby farm. I can remember climbing under the thickest cover of grape vines to read and write stories in the long grass there. I wrote my first novel at age 10 when we moved to Winnipeg. The story involved an attic,a girl and a mystery. I still have a fascination with attics and abandoned hous...more
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30 mai 14:55