Always Brave, Sometimes Kind
Katie Bickell
Brindle & Glass, 272 pages, $22.00, 2020
The interconnected stories that populate Katie Bickell’s thoughtful debut collection, Always Brave, Sometimes Kind, remind us of how deeply socio-political factors shape our personal experiences. Set in Alberta between 1990 and 2016, the stories explore myriad issues facing Albertans, including boom and bust in the oil industry, the mistreatment of Indigenous communities, labour rights, and addiction. With great warmth and empathy, Bickell’s work captures how the province changed, or didn’t change, over time.
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