A dazzling first collection of short fiction from one of Canada's most accomplished poets. The twenty-two incandescent tales in Crow Jazz reveal clever crow energy;bird's-eye views of the new human community. Shape-changing characters, child survivors of adult narcissism and social alienation, eat crow and reinvent themselves to fit aspirational narratives through mirth, rebirth and compassion. They lift off in pairs: sisters, brothers, twins, partners in love. Like modern fairy tales, these stories bewitch and astonish as they are retold, become corvid gossip, improvisation, syncopation, all that jazz, every voice unique. Linda Roger's quirky and brilliant short fiction collection is a wild breath of fresh air for literary Canada.

When Madeleine Turka looks in her mirror, what does she see? A girl who lost her father at an early age, a young woman who supported a grieving alcoholic mother, and as a middle-aged sex/massage therapist for seniors, someone all alone. Then an unexpected inheritance arrives, and she determines now is the time to pick up and discover herself through a quest that takes her back to the land of her parents. The quiet, awkward Madeleine finds herself amid a tumultuous mix of pluralism, soul-searching matters of family breakdown, personal fragility, and human connection. And thankfully she is not alone... A secrets-sharing website has connected her with a cyber-friend who responded to her anonymous plea "Find me." This is a tale for our times, enveloping the reader in a fictionalized travel memoir that blossoms with vivid language and imagery accessible to all. The storyteller's family were refugees, and her experiences following their assimilation into Canadian society mirrors many of...