Sometimes it is difficult to choose the next book I want to read. It’s great to be able to look at book displays in the library to see what is “hot” today. But sometimes I don’t want to take a risk. The short synopses on the back covers don’t convince me to read them. I want assurance that the book will be a really good read. When I need this security, it is satisfying to be able to search the catalogue for a title in McClelland & Stewart’s (M&S) New Canadian Library series. Gabrielle Roy’s The Road Past Altamont is just such a book. It deals with relationships: between a young girl and her grandmother, a young girl and an elderly gentleman, and a young woman and her aged mother. Subtle but incredibly powerful, Roy’s writing has stood the test of time. It is wonderful to rediscover this superb Canadian author. Incidentally, M&S is celebrating 50 years of the New Canadian Library series with the re-publication of some of the best Canadian titles. Here is what they say on their website: www.mcclelland.com/NCL/index.html:

“From its inception, it has been synonymous with the best that has been thought, felt, and written in Canada, and it has ensured that major books have remained in print and readily accessible to the reading public. Spanning more than two hundred years of writing in 100 titles, the series publishes the country’s greatest writers…”

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