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Melt

By (author): Heidi Wicks

***IPPY AWARDS: BEST REGIONAL FICTION: CANADA-EAST – SILVER***

***THE GLOBE AND MAIL SUMMER’S HOTTEST READS***

Jess is a sensitive creature of habit. Cait is her passionate and impulsive best friend. And in Melt, Heidi Wicks follows the lives of these characters from their teenage years into their late thirties—through drifting desires, fake tans, economic turbulence, kids, grief, job loss, love loss, and personal renewal. Shifting radiantly between the late nineties and the present day, Melt explores the life-sustaining anatomy of friendship and the complex relationships we have with our pasts.

AUTHOR

Heidi Wicks

Heidi Wicks has written for The Telegram, The Independent, Newfoundland Quarterly, CBC, and The Globe and Mail. In 2019, she won the Cox and Palmer Creative Writing Award. She lives in St. John’s.

Reviews

“Wicks is deft at layering emotions and gestures — heart-rending, perilous, comic — an everyday crisis overlaid with a palimpsest of the superhero. Striking imagery is a constant (“Cait sits on the floor in the bedroom doorway of her new house. In front of her is a cubist mountain range of Ikea boxes that reminds her of Picasso’s Girl with Mandolin painting, laid on its side”), and details like fashion (eight-ball jackets, Lululemon, palazzo pants) spot-on… The two protagonists snap and sparkle with a wonderful authenticity.. They sashay with wit and realism. You’d swear you’d just passed them walking the Signal Hill trail.”
“Wicks has written a sharp and funny novel that runs the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous. Is Jess about to jeopardize everything that makes life worth living by embarking on an affair with an old flame? Did Cait’s daughter just rub a booger on a piece of crystal at a funeral reception?… At its core, MELT is about family and friends, and how our view of those most important elements in our lives both changes over time and remains exactly the same. One small word of advice. Pay attention to the chapter headings. They include some wicked puns…”
– Downhome Magazine

“Five Stars for a really fabulous summer-feel-good read! I melted right into the book and let it sweep me away. Funny, sharp, snappy and as bright and energetic as its cover, Melt is a delightful story of friendship ups-and-downs, marriage, jobs and kids. I can’t imagine anyone not loving this book!”
– The Minerva Reader

Melt twists and turns as it recounts the then and now tales of lifetime friends, Jess and Cait. From teenagers in the 90s to 30-somethings today, theirs is a layered, lifelong friendship that will surely have you calling up your own bestie to reminisce. Dealing with dashed hopes, rebounds, losses and fresh starts, it is heartwarming, heartrending and humourous. The chapter titles alone are a journey in emotions: ‘fake tans, false hopes,’ ‘salt in the womb,’ ‘wind warning in the wrecked house’ and ‘a healing separation agreement of horseshittery.’ Sharp details about coming of age in St. John’s in the late nineties are especially nostalgic–-whether you experienced it firsthand or not, after reading Melt, you’ll think you had.”
– Atlantic Books Today

“I really appreciate stories that shine a spotlight on the importance of love between friends, and this book is one of my go-to recommendations for people who feel the same.”


– Digitally Lit

Awards

  • IPPY Awards: Best Regional Fiction: Canada-East 2022, Runner-up
  • Excerpts & Samples ×

    ***IPPY AWARDS: BEST REGIONAL FICTION: CANADA-EAST – SILVER***

    ***THE GLOBE AND MAIL SUMMER’S HOTTEST READS***


    Jess is a sensitive creature of habit. Cait is her passionate and impulsive best friend. And in Melt, Heidi Wicks follows the lives of these characters from their teenage years into their late thirties—through drifting desires, fake tans, economic turbulence, kids, grief, job loss, love loss, and personal renewal. Shifting radiantly between the late nineties and the present day, Melt explores the life-sustaining anatomy of friendship and the complex relationships we have with our pasts.

    Reader Reviews

    Accessibility Detail

    Accessibility summary
    EPUB Accessibility Specification 1.0 AA
    Table of contents navigation
    Single logical reading order
    Full alternative textual descriptions
    Print-equivalent page numbering
    Use of high contrast between text and background color
    Next / Previous structural navigation

    Details

    Dimensions:

    240 Pages
    8in * 5.25in

    Published:

    June 08, 2020

    City of Publication:

    St. John’s

    Country of Publication:

    CA

    ISBN:

    9781550818246

    9781550818253 – EPUB

    9781550818260 – Kindle

    Book Subjects:

    FICTION / Friendship

    Language:

    eng

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    By (author): Heidi Wicks