The Whole Beautiful World

Kuipers' light touch and eye for telling details will keep the reader wanting more. A collection of delicate sketches that mark Kuipers as a writer of promise.

Kuipers recovers for us the intimate world of youth on the lip of adulthood: their loneliness, self-consciousness, spiritual longings, self-castigations, dreams. Trapped in poverty or their own bigotry, adults mostly fail them woefully, but this is not a dark book. The Whole Beautiful World is written with compassion and a resonant wisdom.

- Rosemary Sullivan, author of Stalin's Daughter

In subtle, understated prose, yet with deep compassion, these stories reveal the private hopes, secret loves, and stinging regrets that complicate the lives of young girls and women.

- Hugh Cook, author of Heron River

In this soft-sold and pithy new collection of short stories, Kuipers presents a myriad of complicated Canadian women. . . . The stories are tight and deeply entertaining; readers will likely gobble the whole book in one satisfying sitting . . . a sly and slim collection.

“I loved these stories. Melissa Kuipers’ voice is honest, original and sometimes very funny. Her stories of teenage life in churchy small towns deliver punches above their size. Observant, ironic and questioning, she is never predictable. Amidst the crowd of emerging writers pay attention to Melissa Kuipers.”

- Katherine Govier, author of The Three Sisters Bar and Hotel

"Kuipers has plenty of ability, much of it on display in The Whole Beautiful World."

"[Kuipers'] protagonists, many of whom are teenagers, face huge struggles: alienation, poverty, loneliness, and spiritual confusion. Each story packs an emotional punch, despite lasting only a few pages. And yet, as the title suggests, The Whole Beautiful World isn't a bleak book. The stories are complex, bittersweet, and highlight the brilliance of everyday life."

"Memorable and original." —Kerry Clare, author of Mitzi Bytes - Kerry Clare, author of <i>Mitzi Bytes</i>