The Santa Rosa Trilogy by Wendy McGrath

If you haven’t yet read through Wendy McGrath’s Santa Rosa trilogy, wait no further. Lyrical and nostalgic, the author takes the reader on a solemn trip down memory lane.

McGrath sets the scene in book one, Santa Rosa: a neighborhood with a corner store in the big city’s north end. For those who know Edmonton’s 118th Street, the author recovers a 1960’s version of the now defunct neighborhood, long subsumed into the current Montrose area. Christine is little when we meet her. She goes to the beach and learns to swim, watches her dad shave while standing on the toilet seat, understands that there is something important about the door-to-door knife sharpener—though she can’t say what. Book two, North East, introduces a slightly older Christine. She’s aware of her parents’ rocky marriage, she witnesses alcohol abuse, and she becomes wise to the varying degrees of poverty when on a visit to her grandparents’ farm where her mother grew up. In the final book, Broke City, Christine, still a child but growing in independence, begins to understand herself as different, her burgeoning creativity taking root. What is most satisfying is how the epilogue in the final book—a bookend to the prologue in book one—synthesizes the trilogy and brings Christine’s past, her heritage, into focus.

It would be a mistake to think that because most of the story is narrated through the lens of a child that the prose and stories are simplistic. All three books are filled with tension and keen perceptions, full of aptly placed metaphors and striking imagery, the lyricism within the prose creating added depth. The author expertly weaves all three books together into one cohesive piece of art.

If you’re looking for something fresh to read this Christmas or New Years, look no further. McGrath has created a subtly poignant trilogy that is well worth your time. A recommended read!

Santa Rosa                            by Wendy McGrath                       NeWest Press, 2011, pp. 120         ISBN: 978-1-897126-81-3

North East                by Wendy McGrath              NeWest Press, 2014, pp. 124       ISBN: 978-1-927063-72-9

Broke City                      by Wendy McGrath                         NeWest Press, 2019, pp. 116       ISBN: 978-1-897126-81-3