WATCH HOW WE WALK
September 16, 2014 – Watch How We Walk is longlisted for the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize
From the 2014 jury (Shauna Singh Baldwin, Francine Prose, Justin Cartwright):
“We’re celebrating writers brave enough to change public discourse, generous with their empathy, offering deeply immersive experiences. Some delve into the sack of memory and retrieve the wisdom we need for our times, others turn the unfamiliar beloved. All are literary achievements we feel will touch and even transform you.”
“Blisteringly gorgeous prose…” – Publishers Weekly. July 2013
“Watch How We Walk is a thoughtful, well-crafted and impressive debut” – Globe and Mail. December 2013
Watch How We Walk (published by ECW Press in fall of 2013) is my first novel.
Watch How We Walk centres on a family of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and is one of the first published works of fiction to deeply explore and expose this unusual and isolationist religious lifestyle.
The novel traces one family’s splintering belief system and the erosion of their relationships, as Emily begins to question the rigid rules and challenge her upbringing. She becomes closer to her closeted uncle, Tyler, as her older sister, Lenora, tests and trangresses her and her parents’ limits – and gets a startling new haircut. After Lenora disappears, everything changes for Emily, and as she deals with her mental devastation she is forced to consider a different future.
Alternating between Emily’s life as a child and her adult life in the city, Watch How We Walk offers a haunting, incisive exploration of “disfellowshipping,” proselytization, and cultural abstinence, as well as the Jehovah’s Witness attitude towards the “worldlings” outside of their faith. Sparse, vivid, suspenseful, and darkly humorous, Watch How We Walk is an emotional and visceral look inside an isolationist religion through the eyes of the unforgettable Emily.
Available now in your local independent bookstore, or other retailer, or as an e-book or audiobook.
Watch the trailer for Watch How We Walk
Watch How We Walk in the news:
- Jazz singer Tia Brazda discusses why she loved my novel Watch How We Walk on CBC Radio’s The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers
- James K. Moran interview with me about Watch How We Walk
- Watch How Walk makes columnist Louise McEwan’s summer reading list
- Watch How We Walk longlisted for the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize
- Watch the Giller longlist presentation at McGill Univeristy
- Haliburton Echo interview about Watch How We Walk
- Watch How We Walk featured in The Toast in “What Happens When You Tell People You’re Reading Only Women?“
- Watch How We Walk makes Buried in Print’s Faves of 2013 list
- My pick in 49th Shelf’s Holiday Gift Picks From Some of Canada’s Hottest Writers
- Watch How We Walk tops Newstalk 610 CKTB’s favourite books of 2013 and makes their Christmas Gift Ideas
- Literary Press Group features Watch How We Walk in First Fiction Fridays
- Salty Ink profiles Watch How We Walk in Behind the Book
- Open Book Toronto about what I read in The WAR Series: Writers As Readers, with Jennifer LoveGrove
- The Puritan’s Town Crier discusses the launch party in ECW: A Little Out of the Ordinary
- Guest editing the National Post’s Afterword book section:
Some reviews of Watch How We Walk:
- Consumed by Ink (January 11, 2016)
- Herizons (Winter 2015)
- Travel to Wellness (Spring/Summer 2014)
- The Last Book I Read (May 29, 2014)
- MatthewSean (February 22, 2014)
- Novel Escapes (February 19, 2014)
- San Francisco Book Review (January 29, 2014)
- Diamonds in the Library (January 21, 2014)
- The Book Stylist (January 15, 2014)
- The Globe and Mail (December 21, 2013)
- 52 Books or Bust (December 20, 2013)
- The Lost Entwife (December 7, 2013)
- Salty Ink (December 4, 2013)
- Alberta Daily Herald Tribune (November 28, 2013)
- National Post (November 21, 2013)
- Lit/Rant (November 17, 2013)
- Quill and Quire (October, 2013) WARNING: CONTAINS SPOILERS
- Literary Hoarders (October 27, 2013)
- Pickle Me This (October 15, 2013)
- Bookends Review (October 10, 2013) with audio interview
- Chicks Dig Books (October 9, 2013)
- Patrice’s Reading Corner (October 2, 2013)
- Buried In Print (October 1, 2013)
- Coffee Bean Bookshelf (September 29, 2013)
- Go Book Yourself (August 8, 2013)
- Publishers Weekly (July 29, 2013)
JENNIFER LOVEGROVE 