Jane and the Whales: Short Stories

Editorial Review

“Andrea Routley could grow into a fierce good writer, even a great one. Many of her stories tell us things we might not have known about the natural world. She has that unteachable instinct for the killer instant when a character peels back whatever has been obscuring the truth.”
—Richard Cumyn, The Fiddlehead

“Routley’s perceptiveness of the subtle magic that underlies everyday life, and her ability to illuminate those subtleties to be fresh and yet instantly recognizable at once, is the standout strength of this collection. As Jane observes in the title story, ‘It is hard to see the mystical in something so familiar’—a fitting capstone for a collection that manages to achieve just that.”
—Corinna Chong, The Malahat Review

“Routley brings together a collection of bizarre, wonderful and often dark short stories. Like a child standing at the edge of a dark forest, staring into the gloom, her stories confront the animal power within people and, at the same time, the cages we find ourselves living in … the finale of the collection is pure magic.”
—Michael Lyons, Xtra West

“Many of the other stories in the collection, like ‘Habitat,’ focus on the areas of the world in which the wild presses up against the domestic, the natural world and its inhabitants getting cozy (be it in a tent or a vision, mysticism or imagination) …Ultimately the works are preoccupied with relationships, of all sorts and with a close-up view, also suggested by the striking cover image by Sandy Tweed. Whether from the perspective of teacher or student, guide or follower, the characters in Jane and the Whalessometimes reach out and sometimes retract, sometimes recoil and sometimes connect. It is a very satisfying debut.”
—Marcie of Buried in Print

"A powerful, promising debut … [Routley shares] an attention to the small, intimate, everyday details of life and a knack for authentic-feeling characters."
—Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian

"Routley [has a] skill for transporting you to a moment in time and making you experience it from the gut outwards."
—SkyLightTrain.com