A Crack in the Wall

By Betty Jane Hegerat

The characters in A Crack in the Wall share a strong sense of home, whether it is a lifelong sanctuary, or a shell as fragile as the person who inhabits it. A young kleptomaniac ventures outside the shaky walls of her self-imposed confinement. A middle-aged woman pragmatically disposes of a houseful of pets in Calgary before returning to the Maritimes to embark on the next phase of her life. An elderly woman is forced to share her room in a nursing home with an old enemy. The stories explore the vastly different ways in which people deal with blows to the foundations of their lives, with loss. In the title story, "A Crack in the Wall," a perfect home fractures after the death of a child. And in another, a grieving husband finds the house haunted by ghostly messages attached to the frozen meals left behind by his dying wife. These are ordinary people, abundantly flawed, often recognizing, but still clinging to their weaknesses. A Crack in the Wall takes the reader on a voyeuristic walk down suburban streets, a glimpse into open windows at people yearning for what was, and making their reluctant peace with what is, and what will be.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0889822409
• ISBN13: 9780889822405
• Release Date: March 2013
• Publisher: Oolichan Books
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Witty stories about lives in transition

The 16 stories in "A Crack in the Wall" are all about ordinary people faced with learning how to get on with their lives in the face of some great loss or unexpected turn. The stories usually open in a sharp, arresting way and are based on an intriguing premise. For example, a widower spends several months eating the frozen meals prepared by his wife for him when she knew she was going to die. A compulsive kleptomaniac learns to rein in her habit by ordering everything online, but her boyfriend doesn't know her secret. A female cab driver picks up a man who is about to be caught up in the Edmonton tornado of 1987. A woman resolves to return to New Brunswick after a lifetime of living in Alberta and has to figure out what to do with all the family pets she has inherited after her children grew up and moved away. These down-to-earth stories have a certain whimsy but usually end with things working out for the best, though hard lessons have to be learned along the way.