Do you believe in angels?
When Xaviere is tasked with transcribing taped interviews her deceased friend Daphne left to her in her will, she begins to piece together the story of the photographer Irene Guernsey, a moderately well known but elusive photographer Daphne was interviewing. Irene’s mysterious images captivate Xaviere as they had Daphne. Irene had never given interviews or talked about her work publicly, but near the end of her life, she reveals the magic hidden in plain sight in her mysterious and ethereal photographs and her attempt to capture angel wings on film. And once the angels appear, the reader is taken on a journey that spans decades and changes the lives of multiple women along the way.
Everything Affects Everyone, is a novel about listening, about how women speak to one another, and about the power of the question.
– available to order via Palimpsest Press as well as through your local Indie bookstore
Audreys
Glass Bookshop
McNally Robinson
Chapters Indigo
Barnes & Noble
Amazon.com
Amazon in the UK
Amazon in Australia
“Shawna Lemay’s writing makes the miraculous accessible and the mundane seem magical. I now know that angels walk among us. Some of them write among us too.
”
Listen to my interview with Grant Stovel on CKUA.
“It’s so full of beautiful & poignant surprises, I hesitate to describe this book at all for fear of ruining the prospective reader's experience. Just...do yourself a favour & pick up Shawna Lemay's astonishing new novel!”
“…spellbinding…”
“Everything Affects Everyone is an unexpected delight, a novel that defies many of the conventions of narrative fiction and leaves the brain humming with ideas about the nature of art, the mystery of creativity, the role of the artist in society and the need to stretch boundaries and continually challenge the status quo. Everything Affects Everyone inspires as well, by reminding us that, for many of us, art and life are intimately intertwined.”
“Everything Affects Everyone is wonderful and strange, rich and engaging, provocative and comforting, and filled with mystery and beauty. And what impressed me most about this book is how Lemay’s entire oeuvre is an essential context for appreciating this book properly, the way it fits into and extends her ideas and philosophy, which is utterly original, and inviting, which you can’t say about most things one might term a “philosophy.”
“Everything Affects Everyone plays out like a series short stories, each vignette threaded together with a different perspective, one person’s story connected to the next. An interview influences the life of the woman transcribing it; a stolen piece of art leaves an impact on those who witness its absence, recorded and transcribed five years later in conversations with those who saw the exhibit.”
— Justin Bell, Edmonton Journal
“Everything Affects Everyone is a taut, thoughtful novel about listening and being seen, about how women share and protect secrets, and about the nature of belief in all forms. It's a spectacular addition to Lemay's prestigious writing career, which includes the beloved Rumi and the Red Handbag, The Flower Can Always Be Changing, and Calm Things.”
Everything Affects Everyone T-Shirt
Visit TeePublic to check out the EAE merch.
T-Shirts, Totes, Coffee Mugs etc.