Marianne Jones's Blog
January 9, 2023
Best Fiction Award
June 22, 2021
Announcing Maud and Me!
Here's what other authors are saying about "Maud and Me":
“In Maud and Me Marianne Jones strikes gold. As pastor's wife Nicole struggles in the suffocating role husband, Adam, has designated for her, the spirit of her childhood idol, Lucy Maud Montgomery, turns up as personal shadow and guide. Jones weaves this layered story with great sensitivity, insight, and humour. A really wonderful read!”
Paul Butler, author of Mina's Child, The Widow’s Fire. Contender for Canada Reads
“Marianne Jones' novel, MAUD AND ME, is a many-layered story that dissects a troubled marriage — with humour. The fast-moving plot is full of ironies, with tart observations that produce compassion for the frustrated wife as well as sympathy for the well-meaning husband. At various points, Lucy Maud Montgomery drifts in to commiserate.”
Dr. Mary Rubio, Professor Emeritus, U of Guelph, and author of the award-winning biography, Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings (Doubleday, 2008), and Co-editor with Dr. Elizabeth Waterston of The Selected Journals of L. M. Montgomery (Oxford U Press, 1985-2004).
“In Maud and Me, Marianne Jones explores the inner isolation of Nicole, a woman resigned to her role as a pastor’s wife in a small northern community. Nicole finds an ally in Lucy Maud Montgomery who appears in her garden and stays for a cup of tea. Kindred spirits, Nicole and Maud are separated by decades and death, but find companionship through their similar circumstances—as minister’s wives, as artists, as feminists constrained by propriety and expectation.
Maud and Me reflects on the power of story to connect writers and readers and explores religiosity, art, mental wellness, parental abandonment and forgiveness for both the living and the dead. Marianne has drawn on her deep connection to Northwestern Ontario to render the setting for this sensitive and thoughtful story.”
Jean E. Pendziwol, award-winning Canadian author of books for adults and children.
May 3, 2016
“Girl” Shortlisted!
I’m excited to announce that The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die has been shortlisted in the Books: Life Stories category by The Word Guild! Winners in all categories will be announced at the Word Guild’s Gala Celebration June 24 in Toronto. Interesting to note that 3 of the 4 books shortlisted are published by Word Alive Press!
April 28, 2016
Celebrating Motherhood
I am thrilled to announce the release of All We Can Hold, a collection of poems on motherhood, by Sage Hill Press, just in time for Mother’s Day! I am especially honoured to be one of the poets featured in this collection.
For those attending the Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop (NOWW) Award Ceremonies next Saturday, I will try to have some copies available for purchase, but the time frame may be too tight. Copies can be ordered from the Sage Hill Press Website and Amazon.
Sage Hill Press has this to say about the collection:
Collecting the work of over 100 poets from around the world, All We Can Hold is an honest and beautiful exploration of the language of motherhood from a variety of voices and experiences. Poets tackle the joys and the struggles of mothering through poems that address pregnancy, post-partum depression, puberty, the loss of a child, and watching a child grow.
All We Can Hold comes from a desire to read more poetry about motherhood and to provide a forum for those voices. What began as a search for poetry celebrating motherhood in its entirety became a movement, reaching thousands of poets and spurring an online publication of All We Can Hold with additional poetry following the printed release.
The collection is edited by Elise Gregory, Emily Gwinn, Kaleen McCandless, Kate Maude, and Laura Walker and features work from Sherman Alexie, Karen Craigo, Beth Ann Fennelly, Katie Ford, Laura Kasischke, Dorianne Laux, Freya Manfred, Malena Mörling, Martha Silano, Joyce Sutphen, Ellen Welcker, Maya Jewell Zeller, Rachel Zucker, and introduced by Jennifer K. Sweeney.
“Full of love and beauty, pain and humanity, these poems have the power to knit us back together when we are broken. This is a stunning collection, one I will return to again and again.”
Kate Hopper, author of Ready for Air: A Journey Through Premature Motherhood and Use Your Words: A Writing Guide for Mothers.
Contributing editors Elise Gregory and Emily Gwinn said “All We Can Hold received well over two thousand poems from nearly 700 poets. What an overwhelming response of heart wrenching, intimate poems about mothers, mothering, birth, and death. We asked for “witching-hour poems of sleeplessness … the poems of broken windows and broken hearts….” We received them. Thank you.”
For ordering information, click on https://sagehillpoetry.com
or http://www.amazon.com/All-We-Can-Hold...
April 6, 2016
Awakening the Conversation
Can faith and science get along? What will happen to people’s faith when life is discovered elsewhere in the cosmos?
These are the questions behind “The Awakening,” a new blog launched in Thunder Bay last week. “The Awakening” is the creation of Maureen Nadin, journalist and author of The Cosmic Neighbourhood, a monthly column devoted to matters of space and space exploration.
Nadin’s fascination with the cosmos started in childhood, when she looked up at the night sky and wondered about the many mysteries “out there.” She dreamed of becoming an astronaut, but settled for the “next best thing”—writing about space and astronomy. Her passion for her subject has taken her to some interesting places, not the least of which was Rome, where she met with the director of the Vatican Observatory. Although Father Maffeo was not able to offer her a tour of the Observatory, he did share with her historical documents by Copernicus and Galileo. Holding those 500-year-old documents in her hands was a thrill akin to a religious experience, the more so because Nadin has always been inspired by Galileo, whose dogged pursuit of scientific truth did not threaten his personal faith, even under persecution.
Nadin is convinced that it is only a matter of time before life is discovered on other planets. As a person of faith, she is eager to open the conversation about how this will affect believers of various stripes. She has been encouraged to pursue the question by, among others, Dr. Sara Seager, Astrophysicist and Professor of Planetary Science and Physics at MIT, Dr. Gabriel G. de la Torre, Neuropsychologist with a special interest in Space Psychology at the University of Cadiz, Spain, and Dr. Russ Taylor, Director of the Centre for Radio Astronomy at the University of Calgary.
“The Awakening,” which was officially launched last week at the Days Inn in Thunder Bay, is the next step in the journey. The website includes an interactive section of 4 questions where interested readers are welcome to post their personal reactions (anonymously or otherwise), to questions about faith and the possibility (or eventuality) of life elsewhere in the cosmos. The aim of the blog is not to change anyone’s mind, but to start a conversation. To check it out, go to www.maureenargesnadin.ca.
March 28, 2016
In Light of Recent Events
The results of the widely-publicized Ghomeshi trial have drawn a lot of attention to our justice system’s response to victims of rape and sexual abuse. A lot of critics are saying that the court system needs to be overhauled, so that women won’t have to fear coming forward.
In The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die, Linda Stewardson, a survivor of horrific abuse and even a murder attempt by her stepfather, Gerry, describes her experience when she finally pressed charges against him.
“The defence went after my hospital records. They were planning to use my psychiatric history against me. If they could cast doubts about my mental stability, it would cast doubt on my whole testimony…I felt as though I was the one on trial instead of Gerry. Yes, I had a long history of psychiatric problems, drug addictions and suicide attempts, along with dissociative disorder, but that was because of Gerry! The damage he had done to me shouldn’t be used as his defence.”
When Linda gave her testimony in court, she says about the experience, “Wednesday was my turn to be questioned—grilled, more like it. For two days , I was interrogated by two defence attorneys whose only goal was to make me look like a liar and a crazy person….There were times when I felt as though I was going to pass out…..I felt as though I was being raped and abused all over again.”
In the end, Linda’s abuser was found guilty and given an eighteen-month sentence. Linda was stunned that the judge considered that a “stiff sentence.” Nevertheless, she said that meeting Gerry’s eyes after the sentencing and staring him down was one of the most empowering things she had every done. “He wouldn’t ever again intimidate me or have control over my life.”
“It was definitely worthwhile, but it’s not something that everyone could do; it’s a tough process. It was all worth it in the end to hear a judge say that he believed me. After years of being called a liar and a rebellious attention-seeker, it was sweet to be believed.”
http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Wouldn...
https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/...
https://greatcanadianauthors.com/book...
January 8, 2016
An announcement, a quiz, and a (temporary) farewell
This will likely be my last blog post until March. Reg and I will be in Belize until then, and are not sure about Internet, etc. I was delighted to get an email this week from Sage Hill Press informing me that my poem, “At Three Things the Earth Shakes,” will appear in All We Can Hold: A Collection of Poetry on Motherhood
to be published in spring or early summer of 2016. For my poem to be selected from over 2000 submitted feels pretty good! Now, a quick quiz: Who can identify where the poem’s title comes from?
December 21, 2015
Cross Roads by William Paul Young
William Paul Young’s writing is unlike anyone else’s. To say that his novels are strange is an understatement. Strange in a profound, insightful and wildly imaginative way.
The novel Cross Roads is no exception. It’s a kind of modern day Pilgrim’s Progress, depicting the spiritual journey of one egotistical, ruthless, rich businessman, Anthony Spencer as he lies in a coma, not expected to live. Having destroyed every close relationship in his life through his cruelty and manipulation, he is given the gift of seeing his life through a God’s-eye lens. He meets up with C.S.Lewis, Jesus, the Holy Spirit in the shape of an elderly First Nations woman, and God the Father in the shape of a little girl. He also finds himself inside the minds of a teenager with Down’s Syndrome, an African-American nurse, and her sweetheart, a police officer. In one of the most heartbreaking encounters, he meets up with his son, who died at the age of five. Ultimately, he meets up with himself, and all the personas he has constructed to protect himself from feeling.
I found the opening to be wordy—a little too much “telling.” But as I continued, I was hooked. I wanted to find out what happened to all the characters—and what happened to Anthony in the end.
Only someone who has been through the gut-wrenching work of deep therapy could have written such a book. Only someone with a brilliant gift for writing could have depicted the work in such a poetic, entertaining way.
August 17, 2015
The Girl Who Wouldn’
When I first heard Linda Stewardson share her life story, I was, like everyone else in the room, transfixed. I knew I had to write it in a book so that all the world could know her incredible journey. Well, a few years later, it’s almost here! “The Girl Who Wouldn’t Die” is first-place winner in the Word Alive Publishing Contest, and will be launched November 7. Are Linda and I excited? Well, maybe just a little.http://wordalivepress.ca/blog/WJOF-Pu...
July 30, 2015
Books for a Better World
Meet Nellie, Ariel and Lorenzo. The big smiles are because they are holding their first-ever books. Their family has no source of income except when their mother can find work as a domestic servant, to support them, her elderly mother, her brother, and her soon-to-be –born baby. When Sue Harris, their friend and neighbour and Lay Minister in the Anglican Church of Belize, gave them these used copies of Dr. Seuss and Clifford, the Big Red Dog, she says the children “fell on them.”
Sue and her husband Chris look after eight children from poor homes in Belize, buying them food, clothes and books when she can obtain them. Since there is not a single bookstore in the whole country, this is a challenge!
Belize, an English-speaking country in Central America, has a population of around 360 thousand people. The management of education in Belize is a partnership between the churches and the government. Most schools are church run, with the government funding salaries, primary school textbooks, and some elements of capital funding. The funding is inadequate by developed world standards, and the number one request from their teachers are for “more books!”
When I asked Sue if I could mail some children’s books to her from Canada, she told me that the shipping costs were prohibitive. That, plus the absence of any bookstores, posed a dilemma.
That’s when I stumbled on betterworldbooks.com, an internet site that will ship new or used books anywhere in the world free.
I was like a kid in a candy store. Ever the bargain-hunter, I browsed through their extensive children’s book selection and selected an assortment of used favourites that my daughters and I had enjoyed. True to their promise, Better World Books delivered the books free to Sue, who is happily distributing them to poor children and needy schools in Belize.
Sue says, “There are probably thousands of families like this in Belize, but if the children can get an education, then they are the future. “
Nellie, Ariel and Lorenzo attend school about 7 miles away. They walk for two miles, then get the bus or a ride from a passing vehicle the rest of the way. That kind of commitment to an education is rare in developed countries. Even so, it’s hard to imagine learning without adequate reading material.
If you feel inspired to donate books to a developing country, check out Better World Books. If you’re interested in helping out children in Belize, you can have books shipped to Sue Haris, PO Box 695, Belmopan, Cayo, Belize, Central America.
The smiles say it all.
