The writer Sarah Louise Butler discusses her new novel, Rufous and Calliope (Douglas & McIntyre, 2025), with Joseph Planta.

Rufous and Calliope by Sarah Louise Butler (Douglas & McIntyre, 2025).

Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Rufous and Calliope

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

Sarah Louise Butler joins me again. She’s just published a new novel, her second, Rufous and Calliope. I’ve been reading it, and I’m finding it fascinating on a number of fronts. As an only child, I’m just a little curious about what life is like for somebody who has a twin, let alone who has a number of siblings altogether. I’m not wishing it for myself, but I’ve always been fascinated by the connection that these family members seem to have. I’m not an outdoorsy person, but the vast expanses of the outdoors that Sarah evokes in this book, as well as how isolating it might be for a person venturing outside alone, a reader can’t help but be full of wonder altogether. We see the world through young Rufous’s eyes as a child in the late 1970s with his siblings, as they seemingly fend for themselves. Calliope is his twin sister, and while they’re close it appears as the book moves into when Rufous is older, there’s a bond there that distance and time can’t seem to diminish, even though Rufous’s own memory seems to dim as he contends with early onset dementia. I’ll ask Sarah about the book, and get her to tell us as much as she’d like about this world’s she’s created and what she’s brought into it as she’s shaped these rich characters amidst a sometimes overwhelming setting. Sarah joined me from Nelson, British Columbia nearly one month ago, and it’s a part of the world that gets cut off on a regular basis now because of smoke and fires. Sarah was first on the program in 2020 when her debut novel The Wild Heavens was released to good notices and critical acclaim. That book and this new one is published by Douglas & McIntyre. Visit www.sarahlouisebutler.com for more. Please welcome back to the Planta: On the Line program, Sarah Louise Butler; Ms. Butler, good morning.

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