Industrial Roots

Rooted in the oral tradition of storytelling, ‘Industrial Roots’ is an exceptional collection of domestic vignettes narrated by different female characters. The stories in this book concern mainly the daily experiences of blue-collar life amongst the members of a working class family in Ontario. A woman that wants to steal babies, alcoholic husbands, sisters in love with the same man, aging parents, absent fathers – all have a place in the stories these women tell. Lisa Pike uses a variety of registers, from slang to standard English, to shape the characters’ stories. A playful use of the English language that dissolves the boundaries between the oral and written traditions.