somewhere else

I'd like to point you in the direction of a new book launched by a friend of ours, Jan Guenther Braun. It is titled "Somewhere Else." She launched it in Winnipeg just the other day, to a packed house at Mondragon Cafe and Bookstore. It is well written, honest, controvercial, and definitely worth reading.

Here is how the publisher describes it:

"Jess is sixteen and aware that she is in an impossible position—being the homosexual daughter of the president of the Mennonite college. She hits the road in search of a language and the freedom to speak it. On the train to Winnipeg she is found by Freya, Icelandic princess of her dreams. Halfsteinn, fisherman and expert in the fine art of hand-rolling cigarettes, enters Jess’ life, helping her escape emotional captivity. Jess embraces pothead, videogame-playing housemates in the world away from her Mennonite being. Then, she meets Shea. Jess can barely utter the name—afraid of the word, the woman, the possibility, and her own past.

"Jan Guenther Braun, originally from a farm near Osler, Saskatchewan, now makes her home in Winnipeg where she is one-sixth of a worker co-op selling organic groceries. She was the Manitoba winner of the 2005 CBC Poetry Face-Off competition and selected for the Manitoba Writers' Guild Sheldon Oberman mentorship program."

Here is Jan's website.
Here is the publisher's website.