BiancaLakoseljac''s collection of stories Bridge in the Rain, linked by an inscription on a bench in High Park, is precise and elegant, shot through with the element of surprise as she gently but firmly pushes the boundaries between reality and the supernatural: a narrator becomes a sperm-donor substitute for Vincent van Gogh, and his fate converges with the mad painter''s through the barrel of a revolver; a blow-up doll becomes The Perfect Woman and resolves narrator Lila''s tedious marriage; a little girl is befriended by the characters in her books. In this delightful collection, Bianca has found her literary voice in the ordinariness of lives touched and transformed by magic -- Elizabeth Abbott

Brief Synopsis of Each Story:   Foreword: Meeting Gordie The Foreword explains how the collection came about. It also draws a parallel between a turning point the author is facing with that of a person she meets on a park bench whose life-story, in turn, is linked with the first woman-captain in the Canadian Navy.   The Legend of the Cherry Blossom Fairy The story begins in present day Toronto at the Runnymede Library and ties the elusive librarian, Gladys, to the painter James MacDonald who lived on Quebec Ave. near High Park in the early nineteen hundreds. A number of MacDonald’s earlier paintings were inspired by the High Park landscape. This story alludes to one of his paintings and weaves a tale around the inspiration behind the painting and Gladys’ link to the local legend of an immortal cherry blossom fairy.   Bridge in the Rain Set between Vincent van Gogh’s Museum in Amsterdam and a High Park condo, this story of blinding obsession, rooted in a love/hate relationship imbued by grotesque miscommunication,   can only lead to misfortune. However, the heartbreak does not lie in some slip-up but in the characters’ very being as lovers —lovers brought together in the still life of Vincent van Gogh’s bed.   The Perfect Woman To the outside world, Lila is happily married to a successful engineer. She finds her teaching post at a local grade school fulfilling and stimulating. However, when she realizes that her marriage has become not only stale but deadly dull, she is confronted by the guilt inherent in the traditional roles of a married couple. She experiences a moment of enlightenment—a flash of understanding—which leads her to contemplate the entrapment of traditional roles and the institution of marriage itself.   Years of Silence Jennifer and Claire have been life-long friends who have shared their lives through raising children and having families. Drawn apart by a misunderstanding, their inability to overcome their differences leads to a resolution neither had anticipated.   Heads or Tails Dana is an abused housewife living on Gothic Avenue in Toronto who is inspired to seek a way of leaving her dysfunctional marriage and her controlling and violent husband.   Night Walk Amelia is faced with a career choice between a highly satisfying work with grade-school children and a well-paying executive position. Her unusual encounter with her childhood mentor leads her to reevaluate her decision and arrive at a new understanding of her role within her community and her personal definition of self-fulfillment. The story hints at the identity of Claire to whom the inscription on the bench is dedicated.

The recipient of the Matthew Ahern Memorial Award in Literature, Bianca Lakoseljac is the author of a collection of poetry, Memoirs of a Praying Mantis, published in 2009. Her writing has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Canadian Woman Studies and Canadian Voices. Bridge in the Rain, stories linked by an inscription on a park bench in Toronto?s High Park, is her first short story collection.

Cover printing: Bridge in the Rain by Vincent van Gogh ( Van Gogh Museum , Amsterdam , Vincent van Gogh Foundation)