Watermelon Syrup

``Part of the `Life Writing Series,' published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press ... this is a fictionalized version of Jacobsen's mother's life story based on extensive oral history, family journals, and historical research. Just before she died of cancer in 2005, Annie Jacobsen finished a third draft of the novel and turned it over to her friend and colleague Jane Finlay-Young for revision. Finlay-Young took the novel through two more drafts with assistance from Di Brandt. The product of this collaboration is a poignant story told in beautifully evocative language (at times reminiscent of Anne Michael's Fugitive Pieces) with a powerful sense of local history.'' -- Linda Quirk -- Canadian Literature, 200, Spring 2009, 200810
``The many voices in this collaborative effort help define the singular voice of Lexi, her self-determination and discovery, and allow for a satisfying, multilayered read. It is a solid and cohesive piece of writing.'' -- Maggie Mortimer -- The Globe and Mail, October 13, 2007, 200710
``Within a few pages I found myself swept into Lexi's life, and until the novel's close, I never left her side, so attached that I too experienced the pain and glory of the new world she entered as a young woman hired as some `home help.' When she/we had to return to the family farm, I thought my heart would break--but I kept on reading and she/we survived the grief of loss and emerged whole and strong. Watermelon Syrup is a wonderful novel of leaving, of discovery, of finding one's true self and of learning about love. Annie Jacobsen was a wise and beautiful woman and she has left us a wise and beautiful book.'' -- Isabel Huggan, award-winning author of Belonging: Home Away from Home -- 200708
``Watermelon Syrup is the story of a young Mennonite girl from Saskatchewan who travels to southern Ontario to obtain work during the Depression years. Much of the story is actually a fictionalized account of Annie's own family and is based on stories she had heard about her mother's childhood in Russia and Saskatchewan. Annie died of cancer in 2005, after completing the third draft of this novel. Her friend Jane Finlay-Young and award-winning author Di Brandt took the story through two more drafts, polishing and revising, though, as Finlay-Young says: `the manuscript was already whole, had already found its voice and the story was already fully developed.'... Together they have created a fine, multi-layered story that readers will surely enjoy.... Watermelon Syrup is well worth a trip to the bookstore or library.'' -- Donna Gamache -- Prairie Fire Magazine, July 2008, 200807