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Pale Shadows
Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier
5 posts | 2 read | 6 to read
FEATURED ON LITHUB CBC BOOKS: 2024 SPRING FICTION PREVIEW Dickinson after her death: a novel of the trio of women who brought Emily Dickinson�s poems out of the shadows When she died, Emily Dickinson left behind hundreds of texts scribbled (…more)
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TheKidUpstairs
Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier
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1. I have books everywhere in my house! I wish I had one room that could be a purposeful library, but I'll take shelves wherever I can get 'em! I don't have a count, but there must be over 1000.

2. Tough call. I didn't read as many books as usual this month, but I read some excellent ones. Runners up: Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips, and The Followers by Rebecca Wait.

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

TheSpineView I too wish for a library room. Thanks for playing 3d
37 likes1 comment
review
TheKidUpstairs
Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier
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Pickpick

What a stunning, thoughtful, exquisite gem of a book. Following the death of Emily Dickinson, the women in her orbit attempt to continue their lives amidst the shadow of grief. They live, love, and find small joys while finding their own ways to honour the woman they loved and admired, and to preserve her singular voice.

cont'd in comments

#CarolSheildsPrizeforFiction #Shortlist

TheKidUpstairs Fortier's beautiful prose (and Mullins' excellent translation) drift through the story like a feather on the wind, alighting on moments in the lives of its subjects, and occasionally in the life of the author herself to deliver a reflective, playful tale of grief, loss, and simple beauty above all things. I adored this book. I think I need to buy a physical bopy so I can mark it up. Highly recommend! 1w
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quote
TheKidUpstairs
Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier
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When she thinks of Emily, Gilbert, or her cousin Sophia, who died at age fifteen, Lavinia sees them as they were in the spring or summer of their lives, carefree as puppies. But she knows that the truth is entirely different, more marvellous still; their fragile flesh has broken down, their bones are as smooth as piano keys, their hair is like spider silk, their hearts, their lungs, the whites of their eyes...

cont'd

TheKidUpstairs and the pink flesh of their fingers have returned to the earth; they are feeding the tender grass; they have become willow, linden, sycamore; they are used as homes for birds, and their wide-open arms finally touch the stars in the sky.“ 1w
50 likes1 comment
quote
TheKidUpstairs
Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier
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“Emily's poems are bolts of lightning, flashpoints on which Susan burns her hands and her eyes. She spends the morning and then the afternoon slowly reading them over, sometimes holding the same lines cupped in her palm for twenty, thirty minutes, squeezing so tight that she feels blood beating in her fingertips.
They form the short verses of a secret gospel. They are magic formulas...

cont'd

TheKidUpstairs ...Speak them in the right order, with the right rhythm, and a dove appears, a flame from a hat, a wreath of daisies; say them backwards and grasshoppers rain down, the sun splits in two, the stars go out in the sky, the world is extinguished“ 2w
monalyisha Oh, hell yeah. Is that an eloquent enough response to such eloquent prose? 😅 STRAIGHT up the TBR line! 2w
TheKidUpstairs @monalyisha 😂 😂 It's the perfect response! 2w
48 likes3 comments
review
LiteraryHoarderPenny
Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier
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Pickpick

A beautifully written (and translated) love letter to Emily Dickinson and also a beautifully written exploration of grief. I do hope this beautiful piece of literary fiction is moved to the Shortlist for the Carol Shields Prize. #CanLit @Lindy

Lindy I had already made plans to buddy read this in August 2025 before the Carol Shields longlist was announced. Glad to hear you enjoyed it. 😊 1mo
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