ROOST - a novel about a single working mother

roost by Nova Scotian Ali Bryan is a novel and first person account of the life of Claudia, a single mother living in Halifax. Set in the present, it recounts the story of a working mother with two children and a job. When her mother dies, she is also responsible for her father who is a hoarder. In spite of all this, she retains her sanity and even her sense of humour.

The Hantsport Public Library Book Club discussed it at their November meeting. Some were horrified at the language Claudia uses with her children. Others could identify with the trials and tribulations of a recently separated women.

The following is from Freehand Book:

Winner of the 2014 Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction
Selected for One Book Nova Scotia 2014
Shortlisted for the 2014 Alberta Trade Fiction Book of the Year
Longlisted for the 2014 Alberta Readers’ Choice Award

Claudia, single mother of two young children, pines for her past independent life. Her ex, after all, has moved on to a new wardrobe, a new penchant for lattes and new adult friends. But in Claudia’s house she’s still finding bananas in the sock drawer, cigarettes taped to wrestling figures, and doodles on her MasterCard bills. Then Claudia receives the unexpected news that her mother has died.

As Claudia attempts to gain control of her life, she realizes that her fellow family members also struggle with uncertainty. Her brother’s family appears picture perfect—the children always clean, the puzzles never missing pieces—but he and his wife hunger for a break from parenthood. Her father has joined a curling team and seems to be active in the community. Yet he orders product after as-seen-on-tv product for his own empty nest.

Shared through the hilarious, honest, and often poignant perspective of a single mother, Roost is the story of a woman learning about motherhood while grieving the loss of her own mother. And as she begins to mend, she’s also learning that she might be able to accept her home—as it is.

“Ali Bryan works in that magical space between hilarity and humiliation. Roost is about the family tragedies we all face, with courage and cowardice and warmth and malice. This novel is marvellous, terrible fun.” – Todd Babiak, author of The Garneau Block and Toby: A Man

“Does every family need a daughter to do the emotional heavy-lifting? Irreverent and dead-on about the absurdities of motherhood and family, Claudia seems an unlikely fit for the role and fights it every messy inch of the way. Ali Bryan writes the tenderness and pathos of family life with the wise-cracking finesse of a stand-up comedienne. Roost is laugh-out-loud funny—a refreshing CanLit debut.” – Betty Jane Hegerat, author of The Boy and Delivery