The Leaving

"The Leaving is a collection of eleven short stories about girls and women from Nova Scotia. In the title story, "The Leaving," a mother of modest education is influenced by Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique, and leaves with her 12-year-old daughter on a three-day hiatus from the obnoxious men in their family. When mother and daughter return, small but positive changes manifest as a result of their absence. Other stories in the volume deal with the power of language and the written word as certain characters reap the rewards and sometimes consequences of literary success. Still other stories focus on the family and the struggles embedded in forging or breaking the relationships that define us."--Site web Sea Stacks.