Loving the difficult

Internationally acclaimed author of seven novels, prolific short story writer and social commentator, Jane Rule compiled this final book of essays in the months before she died in late 2007. As in her fiction and three previously published essay collections, we find here an absorbing story-teller, a wise observer of character and a fearless spokesperson for lesbian and gay rights. In some of the essays Rule considers episodes of her own life, from infancy almost to its end. She intersperses thoughtful commentary on political themes that have long engaged her, such as censorship, pornography, misguided tax laws and same-sex marriage, and on literary issues such as the nature of story-telling and the role of the woman writer. There is both laughter and grief in these essays, barely-contained anger at injustice, and a clear-eyed acceptance of what can't be changed.