No Common Thread: The Selected Short Fiction of Norma West Linder

Over the past four decades, the short stories of Norma West Linder have appeared in leading magazines, such as Chatelaine and Horizon, at home and internationally. Her fiction has been anthologized numerous times. In No Common Thread Ms. Linder has selected 33 of her personal favourites from well over 100 published pieces. While a couple of these stories are set in southeast Asia, many are based not far from Lake Huron, the environment in which she grew up during the Great Depression. They depict people living their fragile lives against a backdrop of human passions and failures. Throughout these stories, men and women struggle to understand the mystery inherent in human relationships: parent and child, husband and wife, friends and lovers. Readers who have enjoyed her novels will certainly like these luminous stories. "The accomplishments of this talented author are many, and the high standard which she has maintained throughout her writing career is a credit to contemporary Canadian literature."

James Deahl, a longtime friend of Milton Acorn, is an accomplished poet, essayist and publisher.