Stone Woman is a saga of Blossom's unconventional family of five women, whose lives are bound by a Vietnam-War draft dodger David, immersed in the Yorkville subculture of the hippie daze of Toronto. The novel draws the reader into a web of liaisons -- into David's love affair with Blossom's mother Liza, his covert dealings with her friend Anna, as well as the mysterious Helena. The story is brought to the present through the lives of the women's daughters who discover that their family secrets have been sculpted -- literally -- into an art form that imparts a sense of homecoming and alludes to a more hopeful future.
A shadow of a man stretches over the ripples. It shifts closer to her own silhouette in the water, then joins it -- the two effigies wobbling among the white clouds and patches of blue.
Bianca Lakoseljac has woven a complex and accomplished tapestry of a novel that contains many elements: it is a glorious visit to the late sixties, when Leonard Cohen and others played the Riverboat Cafe on Yorkville Avenue and the anti-war movement raged in its northern expression; it is a love letter to west end Toronto and the spirit of creativity in High Park; finally it is a mystery involving the complicated love among two generations of strong women who must learn to accept their triumphs and their tragedies.
Antanas Sileika, author of Buying on Time and Under Ground, and Director for the Humber School for Writers
Stone Woman is a magically-written, enthralling tale which juxtaposes the destruction of war through generations with the spirit of creativity during 1967’s “the summer of love.” There is so much beautiful writing in this novel it truly is a pleasure to read.
Paul Butler, author of NaGeira and Hero