The Heart Does Break

A book in which some of our best writers address their own losses — and help us endure our own...A heartbreaking, comforting and beautiful collection of true stories about grief and mourning from some of Canada's best known writers.When Jean Baird's daughter, Bronwyn, died suddenly, Jean's deep instinct was to turn to books to help her in her time of sudden loss. Although she found that the thoughts of counselors, psychologists, Buddhists, and self-help gurus were perhaps some help, the works that truly reached to the heart of the matter were by literary writers, largely from the UK and the US. Scanning the Canadian landscape, Jean and her husband George Bowering found elegies and tributes, but little from our writers about the person who is left behind to mourn or what it takes to endure grieving. The Heart Does Break — an anthology of twenty original pieces — sets out to fill that gap.

Introduction MAY I BRING YOU SOME TEA? George BoweringBronwyn Jean Dixon TASTING MY FATHER Brian BrettLeonard Francis Brett THE EMBRACE Catherine BushRaymond Sydney Bush THERE IS NO GOOD IN A BLACK NIGHT Austin ClarkeGladys Irene Clarke Luke THE BAGGAGE HANDLER George Elliott ClarkeWilliam Clarke ON THE MATERIAL, or, GAIL'S BOOKS Stephen CollisGail Victoria Tulloch THIS GENTLEMAN, bpNichol Frank DaveybpNichol WAITING TO GRIEVE Endre FarkasMargit Farkas MY FATHER'S BLUE SKIES Brian FawcettDuncan Hartley Fawcett HER GREAT ART Jill FrayneJune Callwood ON PREPARING MY DAUGHTER'S FICTION FOR POSTHUMOUS PUBLICATIONJoan GivnerEmily Jane Givner WITHOUT WORDS Hiromi GotoNaoe Kiyokawa and Tiger Goto JUST CREMATION Marni JacksonClyde Bruce Jackson FURIOUS HUNGER Linda McNuttDorothy James A YEAR LATER, I AM IN LILAC NOW Erín MoureMary Irene Moure THE BLUESMAN Paul QuarringtonMary Ormiston Quarrington THE ART OF DYING IN PRISON Stephen ReidPaddy Mitchell GOOGLING THE BARDO Renee RodinChompoonut (Jeab) Kobram WHAT WILL NOT BURY Anne StoneRob Allen GOOD GRIEF William WhiteheadTimothy Findley The Contributors Contributors' Credits Permissions