Praise for What You Take With You
“Canadian actress and narrator Athena Karkanis commands listeners’ attention from the very first paragraph of this emotionally gripping audiobook, which was released on the 10th anniversary of the Fort McMurray fire in Alberta, Canada. The author, an award-winning journalist, recounts in frightening detail her race to reunite with her husband and narrowly escape the ferocious wildfire that engulfed her home and most of her community. Told through memories of the diverse objects that the author quickly chose to pack in the car before fleeing for her life, the audiobook is an intense emotional exploration of what it means to lose nearly everything. A nuanced performance of the complicated journey to recover from one of Canada’s worst natural disasters.”
— Kirkus Reviews Earphones Award
“[Narrator Athena] Karkanis narrates this devastating story about a wildfire that continues to wreak havoc in Greenwood’s life long after it has raged through the author’s community in Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada…. In the wake of one of the largest fires in Canada’s history, Greenwood memorializes the sentimental items and seemingly random knickknacks she took with her in the few minutes she had before fleeing her home. Each item holds a history and heartfelt story connected to family members or friends in her life that invoke tears, nostalgia, and a heavy sense of loss. Karkanis’ delivery is both engaging and respectful to the destructive event. Her tone holds the emotional weight of Greenwood’s poignant memoir while carrying the story forward with strength and hope for the future. While this book was published in 2019, this is its first audio setting.”
— Booklist
“My eyes filled with tears more than once while reading this book. So terrifying and so tender, it looks clearly and deeply into how we can survive loss and how our treasured objects can be the priceless vessels that carry the stories of both our past and our future.”
— Diane Schoemperlen, author of This Is Not My Life: A Memoir of Love, Prison, and Other Complications
“Therese Greenwood’s gripping account of the Fort McMurray wildfire evacuation, the largest and most devastating in Canadian history, is told in the deceptively relaxed manner that often masks true tragedy. You’ll read this book with a mounting sense of panic. You’ll look around your own house, imagining flames licking at your doors. You have two minutes: what would you save?”
— Wayne Grady, author of Up From Freedom
“In What You Take With You, Therese Greenwood tells a very personal story of the Fort McMurray Wildfire. By considering the things that she lost in the blaze and the things that were saved, Greenwood takes the reader with her through her own evacuation, the road to safety, the grief that she experienced on losing her home, and the steps to her recovery. It is a beautiful book, sharply observed in the accounting of a disaster that affected the nation, gripping in the particulars of her own journey, and expansive in the questions it poses for us all: How is memory tied to the things we’ve collected, and what does it mean to make a home?”
— Miranda Hill, author of Sleeping Funny
“One of the greatest treasures in life may be to understand both where we have come from and who we have come to be. It seems that Therese’s reflections gave her some of those insights. Perhaps reading and reflecting with her might do the same for us.”
— Bob Trube, Bob on Books
“As evacuation orders were imposed and as the highway out of town swelled with traffic [Greenwood] gathered an assortment of objects, from deeply meaningful mementos to items that initially appeared more random … Each of the objects she has retained is carefully considered and contextualized over a number of chapters that fuse past and present, family memories and local histories…. In this surprisingly gripping and deeply moving account, Greenwood considers how we re-establish normalcy in the wake of profound loss.”
— Heidi Tiedemann Darroch, Canadian Literature
“Greenwood’s book, What You Take With You, is an amalgamation of life lessons on the resilience needed to recover emotionally and mentally following the May 2016 [wildfire] disaster… The book analyzes what Greenwood took from her home as authorities began ordering the evacuation of Fort McMurray. She had only 15 minutes to grab what she needed… Greenwood said each object she took in the frenzy of evacuation had a subconscious and special meaning for her…. Each chapter of her book explains the life lesson tied to these objects and how Greenwood applied those lessons to the aftermath of the fire.”
— Sarah Williscraft ― Fort McMurray Today
Praise for The Many Names of Robert Cree
“Cree’s optimism rings true (“I want you to know… the joy of letting go of anger and bitterness”), even as his blunt account of state-sanctioned abuse haunts. The result is an affecting, hard-won testament to the power of perseverance.”
— Publishers Weekly
“Told with the immediacy of oral storytelling, this work is witness to one man’s journey through trauma to wholeness and the making of a powerful voice for Indigenous rights. The telling is both eloquent and moving. The author’s approach is thoughtful and soft, showing readers that two distinct cultures can work together to find a common ground that benefits everyone, including the environment. The personal narratives are woven seamlessly, crafting a holistic exploration of what it means to reconcile with the author himself, the environment, and those who have sought to erase his ways of being.”
— Jury, Alberta Literary Awards
“A wise and evocative book.”
— Alberta Views
“A deeply moving story of forgiveness and healing.”
— Prairie Books Now
“I went through so many emotions reading The Many Names of Robert Cree, from delight through sorrow. Delight in learning the beautiful philosophies and spirituality as passed down by the Elders. Sorrow at reading of the harrowing first-person experiences from the residential schools. Anger at how our governments behaved disgracefully with regard to honouring treaties. I came away with overwhelming admiration for Robert, how he stood true to his values in the wake of government bullying and bribery. I hold even more respect for all he has accomplished. This very readable, relatable book about a modern-day Canadian hero, should be required reading in every high school.”
— Melodie Campbell, award-winning author of The Pharaoh’s Curse Murders
Praise for Therese Greenwood’s crime fiction
“Hatcheck Bingo is fresh and original with deeply Canadian historical roots. The post-WW1 period is effectively woven through the action. Our hat-check girls are clever and resourceful, moral if not entirely law-abiding. Underlying the effervescent Prohibition-era atmosphere are serious undercurrents invoking postwar PTSD, sex discrimination for jobs, and ruthless cross-border power struggles over lucrative booze trafficking routes. The jury specially commends the masterful use of these themes as essential drivers to the deliciously twisty crime story. Wit and humour sparkle to the last bubble, like the best smuggled champagne.”
— Jury, Crime Writers of Canada Award of Excellence
“Therese Greenwood’s wonderfully-crafted stories pull you into small towns where richly-drawn characters in search of redemption, or deserving of comeuppance, grapple with big problems. They stay will you long after the tale is told, the hallmark of a master storyteller.”
— Rick Mofina, USA Today best-selling author
“Short-form crime fiction is undergoing a renaissance, and Therese Greenwood is becoming one of its masters.”
— George Fetherling, author of The Carpenter From Montreal
“Therese Greenwood crafts elegant stories that have a kick and several punches at your emotions and intellect. Where has she been hiding, and why can’t we get more of her stories? Someone should chain her to a desk and force her to write a short story a day for the rest of her life, they are that good.”
— Kevin Thornton, Author