Words Worth Writing For.
Susan E. Wadds
Susan Wadds’ debut novel, “What the Living Do,” won the 2024 Canadian Book Club Award for fiction, was a 2024 Indies finalist, and was shortlisted for the 2024 Fred Kerner Book Award. In 2016, her short fiction won the Writers’ Union of Canada’s Prose Contest. Susan’s work has appeared in various publications, including carteblanche, The Blood Pudding, Room, and Waterwheel Review. A graduate of the Humber School for Writers and a proud member of The Writers Union of Canada and The Canadian Authors Association,
Susan is a certified Amherst Writers and Artists (AWA) workshop facilitator and Blue Pencil Editor.
She has lived in four Canadian provinces as well as India, France, and Italy. She’s sort of settled down and currently lives on a quiet river on Williams Treaty land in traditional Anishinaabe territory with an odd assortment of humans and cats.
What the living do
Thus begins a challenging journey of alternative healing that she doubts she deserves. Just as Brett surrenders to the prescribed cure, a startling discovery sends her on a more profound exploration of cause and effect. Encounters with animals, both living and dead, help her answer the question: who is worth saving?
- Publication date: March 19, 2024
- Publisher: Regal House Publishing
- Language: English
- Paperback: 236 pages
“The most successful and pleasurable writing comes from being in a state of wonder. That fine balance between will and surrender, between skill and letting the pen run free is where the magic lives.”
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Laurie Elmquist, WHAT THE LIVING DO Amazon Review wrote:
“This novel made me think about the people who walk by our side in this life and help us, sometimes with the most basic needs such as giving us shelter when we are scared and vulnerable. The protagonist’s aunt is one such person who helped Brett and her mom get back on their feet after a devastating house fire. Fast forward many years, now Brett is thirty-seven. She cleans up roadkill for a living which is a pretty interesting profession. Enter Mel. He’s her co-worker and he’s a nice man to work with. He’s the kind of person who doesn’t ask any questions, so Brett has space to breathe and tackle the dead animals and all that sadness she’s dragging around. And finally, I just want to give a big shout out to Cole, the beautiful boyfriend in his boxer shorts. Okay, he’s much more than that, but whenever he walks into a scene I am sure glad he is there. He has some pretty amazing moments in the story because he knows how to communicate what he’s feeling. Brett? Well, let’s say she’s got a lot of things to work through, and she’s not always so great with her explanations. Okay, she’s terribly flawed, but that’s why she’s magnificent in a very human, real sort of way. This story stirs up a lot of things in my heart, including a big appreciation for this author’s strong writing and her unflinching look at life.”