Waiting for the Cyclone - by Leesa Dean (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

"A radiant debut--beautifully written, passionate, and whip smart." --Ayelet Tsabari, winner of the 2015 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature

In the realm of fiction, women are too often cast as inherently good--typically kind, always considerate, and traditionally in possession of high morals. Not so in the audacious stories of Waiting for the Cyclone.

Debbie, a seemingly perfect mother, shoots pharmaceuticals at night, and Donna lies to her family about volunteering in Afghanistan so she can parasail in Turkey. There's also Alison, who wakes up in bed with a tattooed Mexican man, instead of the less-interesting man who brought her on vacation (her husband). These women, and a dozen others, don't need to be liked and are not compelled to make apologies. These women are perfectly imperfect.

At times fast and reckless and at others, calm yet under high pressure, this collection is a powerful literary debut from one of Canada's most promising young writers.

"Original, honest. . . Far from shelter, readers will find themselves pulled closer and closer to the eye of this storm. Brace yourself: these women are unflinchingly real. You will not be able to look away." --Elisabeth de Mariaffi, giller-nominated author of How to Get Along with Women

Review Quotes

"Subversive, illicit, and with a knack for final lines packed with innuendo, Waiting for the Cyclone is a pleasure readers need not feel guilty about." --Quill & Quire

"Often in fiction, women are portrayed as 'good.' They may slip up, but they eventually return to goodness. Not so in this collection of stories. These women land hard. They aren't bad people, but neither are they especially likeable. However, they do come across as real--almost uncomfortably authentic in a real-life-stripped-down kind of way. Whether it is a woman leaving a relationship or another in search of the mother who gave her up or a young girl looking at her female role models, there is a weight to these poignant stories that lingers." --Y.A.M.

"There are few occasions of physical violence in Waiting for the Cyclone, though plenty of emotional damage, the through-line a gale-like force pushing the narrative in a surprise direction--not a twist ending, but a destination unheralded at the beginning . . . The takeaway: Whatever our strength of will, we are buffeted by circumstances outside our control." --Globe and Mail

"In Dean's eclectic debut collection of short fiction, women take center stage. The stories flit across Canada and the Americas, telling tales of summer romances, hitchhiking in Alberta, and love so overpowering that it crushes its object. Bound by nothing but the intention to portray women's interior landscapes, these stories present imperfection in all its glorious variety . . . Focusing on how circumstance can change the pacing of relationships, these stories zoom in on the ways in which the characters are "no longer in sync." . . . A promising new author." --Publishers Weekly-- "Publishers Weekly"

"Leesa Dean's debut collection, Waiting For The Cyclone, is tried and true storytelling." --Broken Pencil

"The way Dean set ups up her stories and has the reader fill in the unsaid with their own imagination. She does it magnificently . . . There's life and beauty in every story. Dean hits her notes perfectly, and brings the coming storm to their world in a beautifully filtered and poetic reality." --Portland Book Review

"Vibrant . . . These stories, peopled with unconventional women navigating between freedom and family ties, give an out-of-the-ordinary window into contemporary North American lives." --Foreword Reviews

About the Author

Leesa Dean teaches English and Creative Writing for Selkirk College in Nelson, BC. She's been a finalist for the Irving Layton Award, the Litpop Award, and the Quebec Writing Competition. Waiting for the Cyclone is her first book.