By Jonathan Greenbaum
Blue Runaways: Stories
by Jann Everard
Stonehewer Books (2024)
Those of us who read the CanLit magazines know that emerging writers abound in the pages of these journals. So, when after years of effort one of these writers emerges into the pages of her first book—it’s a wonderful event. In the case of “Blue Runaways,” Jann Everard’s first short fiction collection, she gifts us with twelve finely crafted stories.
Born in Halifax, Everard lived in Toronto for many years, writing fiction and working in the health administration field. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals in Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. Recently, Everard and her husband relocated to Vancouver Island.
The stories in “Blue Runaways” take place in diverse settings: in Iceland, in Bali, in our Canadian cities, and in rural locales. I detect two overarching themes in the collection. First, there are women struggling to overcome various limitations and sadness in their lives. For example, the female protagonist in “An Imitation of Grace,” Gwen, travels to Bali with her four year old son, Ollie. Far away from Canada, Gwen meditates on the recent loss of her partner: She knew that the loss of Rupert should have made her cling to her child, knew that Ollie needed her time and attention…But guilt wasn’t enough to want to make her want to be his mother. Her baby held no charm.
The second theme turns on how Nature impacts and shapes the lives of Everard’s protagonists, as in Paige’s efforts to free a young Orca whale trapped on rocks in the story, “Transient.” Nature, Everard suggests here, can be cruel to animals and humans.
In “Blue Runaways,” the collection’s title story, the 24 year old female narrator travels from Canada to an artist’s colony in Iceland. The young woman has recently had one of her arms surgically removed. Her parents have paid for her trip to get her out of their hair. I’m not an artist of any kind, the unnamed narrator tells Liv, the Icelandic woman who runs the retreat. I’m a lost soul, a person searching for a purpose in life—according to my mom. What happens to the narrator in Iceland is both surprising and moving.
My favourite story in the collection is “Through the Sidelights.” Meg, the central character in the story, has taken to visiting Joe, a man she’s known for more than thirty years. Meg lives with her partner, David—but Joe has recently lost his partner, Rachel, Meg’s close friend. Meg suddenly finds herself going through an existential crisis. And for several years now—since before Rachel’s illness—Meg had felt as if she’d lost her sense of purpose, was merely notching up days that were safe and routine. If she were to die tomorrow, she wondered, would a reputation for reliability and loyalty be legacy enough? Would she feel as if she’d truly lived?
Meg has a sexual flirtation with Joe. But later in the story as Meg stands outside Joe’s front door, she makes a painful discovery. She peeked through the sidelights by the front door. There he was. With someone else. Someone dancing in Rachel’s robe. Someone young. So young it might have been Carly (Meg’s own daughter).
Everard’s writing is tight, clear, and often beautiful. These polished stories do not read like those in a typical first collection. They women in the stories grasp at life in whatever ways they can.
Jonathan Greenbaum is an Ontario high school English teacher. He has a Masters in Education from the University of Toronto, and is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers in Toronto. His short fiction has appeared in The Nashwaak Review.