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When an impulsive mother leaves the family to study crop circles in the English countryside, her half-Asian, precocious daughter Grace, nicknamed Gray, must make sense of an unusual mother-daughter bond in the debut novel of Calgary-born Corinna Chong of Kelowna: Belinda's Rings (NeWest $19.95). More inclined towards marine biology than maternity, Gray copes with her mother's mid-life crisis by learning to keep house for her peculiar brother Squid and their rapidly-ailing stepfather--a story that percolates with humour and kindness.
Chong's second title, The Whole Animal (Arsenal Pulp $19.95) is a collection of short stories that grapple with the self-alienation and self-discovery that make us human. Flawed characters wrestle with the complexities of relationships with partners, parents, children, and friends as they struggle to find identity, belonging, and autonomy. Bodies are divided, often elusive, even grotesque. In "Porcelain Legs," a pre-teen fixes on the long, thick hair growing from her mother's eyelid. In "Wolf-Boy Saturday," a linguist grasps for connection with a young boy whose negligent upbringing has left him unable to speak. In "Butter Buns," a college student sees his mother in a new light when she takes up bodybuilding.
Chong teaches English Literature at Okanagan College and edits Ryga: A Journal of Provocations. She won the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize for "Kids in Kindergarten."
BOOKS
Belinda’s Rings (NeWest Press, 2013) $19.95
The Whole Animal (Arsenal Pulp, 2023) $19.95 9781551529158
[BCBW 2023]
Chong's second title, The Whole Animal (Arsenal Pulp $19.95) is a collection of short stories that grapple with the self-alienation and self-discovery that make us human. Flawed characters wrestle with the complexities of relationships with partners, parents, children, and friends as they struggle to find identity, belonging, and autonomy. Bodies are divided, often elusive, even grotesque. In "Porcelain Legs," a pre-teen fixes on the long, thick hair growing from her mother's eyelid. In "Wolf-Boy Saturday," a linguist grasps for connection with a young boy whose negligent upbringing has left him unable to speak. In "Butter Buns," a college student sees his mother in a new light when she takes up bodybuilding.
Chong teaches English Literature at Okanagan College and edits Ryga: A Journal of Provocations. She won the 2021 CBC Short Story Prize for "Kids in Kindergarten."
BOOKS
Belinda’s Rings (NeWest Press, 2013) $19.95
The Whole Animal (Arsenal Pulp, 2023) $19.95 9781551529158
[BCBW 2023]
