The Opium Lady

JOANNE SOPER-COOK is such a spellbinding storyteller that she can lead her willing captives anywhere. In her new story collection "The Opium Lady, she draws her readers into the far corners of human yearning. "The Opium Lady resembles an old family snapshot album. A photograph heads each story, and each freezes a defining moment in a different person's life. The teller of the tales is the person guiding the reader through the album. Who is this guide? How down he or she know the secrets of so many people? Some live in Maryland, some live in the Newfoundland outport of Guernsey, and some lives in other places. They're a mixed lot--rich and poor, men, women, and children, the scandalizers and the scandalized, housewives and farmers, tradesmen, charlatans, and ne'er-do-wells. The Opium Lady herself is an "actress" in vaudeville, a fan-dancer, really, horrified to discover that her escort has taken her to a snake-handling church. Various members of this motley cast pop up in the stories of others. They all seem to be connected, but how? It's clear that the pieces will fit together, but Soper-Cook hands over the missing link only at the very end. Newfoundland author JOANNE SOPER-COOK was born in Hant's Harbour and now lives in St. John's. She is the author of three novels, most recently the highly acclaimed "Waterborne.