Lesley Krueger is an award-winning Canadian novelist and filmmaker whose works are characterized by a keen insight into the human psyche and social issues. Through her compelling style and rich language, she explores complex relationships and universal themes. Her writing is often described as historically situated but always with a timeless resonance that appeals to contemporary readers. Krueger masterfully weaves stories that are both challenging and engaging, leaving a lasting impression on the reader.
The narrative follows a clever young woman, Eleanor, who embarks on a romantic journey with a handsome soldier, Robin. Their love story is marked by both romance and misunderstandings, enhanced by the unique twist of time travel. Eleanor experiences these temporal shifts alone, adding complexity to their relationship as she navigates the challenges of love across different eras.
Charlotte Bronte and Charles Dickens get involved with Richard Dadd, a brilliant but troubled artist being held in Bedlam. A riveting story of talent and the price it exacts, set in a richly imagined Victorian England.
He who would bring home the wealth of the Indies must carry the wealth of the Indies with him. – Spanish proverbLesley Krueger started travelling the moment she was old enough to get on planes, trains and buses by herself. Propelling her was the knowledge that her two immigrant grandmothers had never felt at home in the New World. They remained foreigners in places that often baffled them. What was it like, being a foreigner? She wanted to know.Weaving her own travel stories in with her grandmothers’ tales, Lesley explores the idea of home and away. Expatriation, the nature of being foreign, the importance of feeling part of a community: these things become crucial as she travels through India, Brazil, Mexico, Japan and both the U.S. and Canada. Sometimes things get funny: spending the night in a cheap hotel that proves to be a small-town brothel. Sometimes she meets danger: jaguar poachers in Brazil. Then there’s the time she finds herself on a Twin Otter flying through a storm in Labrador, and discovers the reason the plywood floor has holes in it. Some people say we displace ourselves not to find what we’re looking for, but to find out what we’re looking for. Whatever the reason, it’s clearly visceral. We say we push off, hit the road, pull up roots, take off. Hit, pull, take, push—potent verbs, gut expressions.Birth is like that, a push from the gut. Fascinating, when you consider the New World obsession with being born again. Her grandmothers never were. Except, perhaps, in these searching words.