On the Sunshine Coast of Canada, people live and die, come and go, caught in webs of their own making. The stories in Any Day But This follow those webs to their probable conclusions. Everyone has bad days and in these stories, people can hardly tell the bad days from the good. But the spirit is stronger than circumstance, and memory vies with determination. One thing remains true in all the variations of fate: life hardly ever turns out as you expected.
Here are stories of love and loss; of claiming, losing and reclaiming dignity, heartbreak, grief and joy. In these tightly wrought stories, characters find their masks removed to reveal their true selves within.
One woman slowly realizes she belongs to a class she secretly despises, while another finally decides to face her worst fears and then cannot find them.
A gregarious man unexpectedly finds himself alone and friendless while another bravely walks into life's worst nightmare and discovers it's not so bad.
The dilemmas and conflicts Gunnars' characters face are those all of us encounter.
Reviews
"In story after story, Kristjana Gunnars draws us into the texture of lives shaped by the sudden surprise of idiosyncratic histories arriving, unannounced, in the play of present moments. Any Day But This has the Gunnars touch: probing, poignant, generous."
-- Charlene Diehl, Artistic Director, Winnipeg International Writers Festival
"Any Day But This is a 'can't put down' read."
-- Logberg-Heimskringla
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