Daisy Goodwill is a character who will remain in my memory. The story of her life, from birth on the kitchen floor in Manitoba, to her death in Florida some 90 years later. On a personal level, the story appealed to me because my mother was born a year after Daisy Goodwill - also in a British Dominion, albeit thousands of miles away and in another hemisphere - and I recall her speaking about many of the historical events experienced by Daisy Goodwill. There are parallels in their lives in the social sense too; college, children, loneliness.

Carol Shields' writing is perceptive and rhythmic. No wonder this book won the Pulitzer Prize in 1995. As the Sunday Telegraph comments, 'the reader does participate fully and rewardingly'. Canadian authors do punch above their weight in many different genres.