Review: Patricia’s Wisdom (The Marzipan Fruit Basket)

THE MARZIPAN FRUIT BASKET is a gem group of short stories. 24 delightful looks into adverse situations and delightful descriptions and reads that can transport one to the 1940s and also to contemporary discourse and activities.  I believe Lucy Black is an old soul with a heart for working life out for the best results – though sometimes sad results.

The stories in this collection are unified by a sense of dislocation. In each of the pieces, there is an underlying element of disturbance and disharmony. Resolution threads its way through the narratives while the characters struggle to navigate conscious choices and come to terms with new realities. A perspective that views the complexity of life journeys as a manifestation of intentional decisions, circumstances beyond one’s control, and the need to reflect upon the combination of both in order to become fully realized, drives the narrative voices. (From Amazon)

Lucy E.M. Black is an educator.  She studied creative writing at the undergraduate level and earned an M.A. in nineteenth-century British fiction.  Her short stories have been published in many publications including Cyphers Magazine, under the gum tree, the Hawai’i review, Vintage Script, and the Antigonish Review.  She lives with her husband in a small town near Toronto, Ontario.  THE MARIZIPAN FRUIT BASKET is her debut collection of short fiction.  (book cover)

It took me considerable time to figure out that the author was not value programed in the USA nor the UK.  There was a subtlety to the writing that included ideas common to me but may not be so common to the US reader.  My family background is Canadian and thus the familiar in the stories.  There were not big twists and reveals in the stories but there were resolutions and outcomes.  It was similar to eating high class chocolates versus the quickie treat from the gas station mart.   The reader will need to work a bit to digest these tales.  The characters definitely play on one’s emotions.

My favorite story is the one about the Romaine Lettuce Hearts.  It reminded me so much of a story I told when teaching Developmental Psychology to Nursing Students.  How does one introduce new ideas and get new results?  Why do we stick with the same old same old?

Short story buffs will enjoy this group and I think if will be a new adventure for some readers. Put it on your list and try it out – THE MARZIPAN FRUIT BASKET.