Product Description

2001 EPPIE WINNER!

Joanna Hastings wants to escape from her life: from the high-pressure politics of a large computer company, from the drudgery of suburbia, from the emotional fall-out of a troubled teenage daughter. On impulse she quits her job, rents out her house in the city and takes possession of a run-down old shack deep in the woods of Northern Ontario. All she wants is to be left alone, to work in solitude and to recover some remnants of her shattered equilibrium. But in a town like Hope River, being left alone is a lot harder to achieve than a city-woman like Joanna realizes.

Unwillingly she becomes embroiled in the lives of her neighbors, an elderly widow and her troubled teenage granddaughter, who reminds Joanna too much of her own pain. At the same time Joanna is increasingly aware of unusual noises at her door, and flashes of deepest black in the woods. She is plagued by realistic dreams, of a teenage girl living with a brutal family in what appears to be her own cabin, circa 1930, depression era Ontario.

Then murder strikes at the heart of the little community. As the harsh winter storms close in and the mysterious dreams intensify Joanna realizes that not even death can end the troubles of a lost teenager.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2459701 in Books
• Published on: 2002-04-26
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 220 pages

Review
"Very Good... Delany shows a nice balance between evocative narrative and dialogue that improves and matures as the story unfolds." -- Stefan Vucak, Millennium Sci Fi & Fantasy

"Well written and exciting, WHITEOUT is a book you can't put down." -- Mary E. Dana, Sharpwriter

From the Publisher
A gripping psychological thriller. A fascinating look into the mind and life of one ordinary woman struggling through life.

About the Author
Vicki wanted to write for many years but the pressure of a growing family and career made it impossible. But now that her children are older, and her career as a Systems Analyst well established, Vicki devotes most of her spare time to reading and writing. WHITEOUT is her first completed novel. It was a semi-finalist in the Chapters Robertson Davies First Novel Competition for 2000, and winner of the EPPIE award for the best mainstream novel published electronically in 2000.

Vicki lives in Oakville, Ontario but her first love is the Canadian Wilderness where most of her stories are set. With one daughter living in Nelson, B.C. and another summering in Sioux Lookout, Ontario (plus another daughter attending the University of British Columbia), she has plenty of opportunity to discover the more remote areas of Canada. "I want to write what I love," she says. "The trees and rocks and lakes and rivers of Canada are where I want to be, so I put my characters there." Her second novel, Murder at Lost Dog Lake, takes place on a wilderness canoeing expedition in Algonquin Park.

She has a collection of short stories, both for adults and children. One of her stories, My Seat was the runner-up in the 2000 Bloody Words Convention short story contest. Vicki's other interests include hiking and quilting, which has lately taken a back seat to her writing. "I started a quilted wall hanging for a good friend's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary," she says. "But then I got so involved in the book, that I might get around to finishing it for their fiftieth.

Customer Reviews

Great work by a new author
I first read this book in electronic format and intend to buy the hard copy to add to my collection.

Vicki Delany takes an ordinairy situation and steadily builds up the suspense to involve us with her characters. Her characters are very believable and seem to be members of your own family and as you observe the tension between them, the interplay of personalities to the point you are talking out loud to coach them along.

The yarn is a good one and well worth the read !