Pale Shadows

Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier

pick

I loved this! After the death of Emily Dickenson the women in her life grieve the loss of her as they also decide what to do with all the poetry she left behind. This was so beautifully done. Gorgeously written, without a wasted word I think this is a book I will want to revisit.

merelybookish I read a few months ago and loved! 2w

Jas16 @merelybookish I really want to read paper Houses now. Have you read it?

Paper Houses

(edited) 2w

merelybookish @Jas16 I got it from the library but had to return it before I got around to reading it. But still want to read it! 2w

41 likes3 comments

merelybookish

Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier

pick

Exquisite!!
A beautiful, poetic novel about the women who loved Emily Dickinson and helped shape her legacy.

Graywacke Sounds amazing. Stacked 2mo

LeahBergen I find the history around this so fascinating. Have you read

Lives Like Loaded Guns: Emily Dickinson and Her Family's Feuds

2mo

merelybookish @Graywacke She wrote a previous novel about Emily that I want to read next!

Paper Houses

2mo

See All 15 Comments

merelybookish @LeahBergen I haven't! I don't really know that much about ED but visited her home last summer which really piqued my interest! She and her world are pretty fascinating! 2mo

LeahBergen My visit to her home got me reading more about her, too! I think you‘d enjoyed this one. 2mo

Lindy I‘m looking forward to reading this with a friend in August for #WomenInTranslation month. I just finished a different novel that features Emily Dickinson:

Hope Never Knew Horizon

2mo

TheLudicReader Give me a shout so I can keep you in the loop re @dabbe visit. ludicreader AT rogers.com 2mo

dabbe @TheLudicReader 😍🤩😍 2mo

merelybookish @Lindy I look forward to your thoughts! And thanks for the recommendation! One could go all in on reading about Emily!! 😄 2mo

merelybookish @TheLudicReader @dabbe Will do! 😀 2mo

Lindy @merelybookish 100% 😄 2mo

TheKidUpstairs right?! I loved this one, one of my favourites of the year so far! 2mo

merelybookish @TheKidUpstairs It's wonderful! Have you read her previous novel about ED?

Paper Houses

2mo

TheKidUpstairs @merelybookish I haven't, but I want to! I didn't know about it until I read this one. Have you read it? 2mo

merelybookish @TheKidUpstairs Same! I have a request in now at the library. 2mo

66 likes3 stack adds15 comments

TheKidUpstairs

Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier

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 5mo

41 likes1 comment

TheKidUpstairs

Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier

pick

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! 5mo

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TheKidUpstairs

Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier

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.“ 5mo

50 likes1 comment

TheKidUpstairs

Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier

“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“ 5mo

monalyisha Oh, hell yeah. Is that an eloquent enough response to such eloquent prose? 😅 STRAIGHT up the TBR line! 5mo

TheKidUpstairs @monalyisha 😂 😂 It's the perfect response! 5mo

48 likes3 comments

LiteraryHoarderPenny

Pale Shadows | Dominique Fortier

pick

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. 😊 6mo

LiteraryHoarderPenny @Lindy 🥰 6mo

16 likes3 stack adds2 comments

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