Miriam Toews

"'You’re a small thing,' Grandma writes, 'and you must learn to fight.' Swiv’s Grandma, Elvira, has been fighting all her life. From her upbringing in a strict religious community, she has fought those who wanted to take away her joy, her independence, and her spirit. She has fought to make peace with her loved ones when they have chosen to leave her. And now, even as her health fails, Grandma is fighting for her family: for her daughter, partnerless...

Silent light tells the story of Johan, a married man who against the laws of his faith and traditional beliefs, falls in love with another woman, thus facing an internal dilemma, whether to betray his wife, the woman he once loved and disrupt the apparent stability of the community or sacrifice his true love and future happiness. Sublimely shot, entirely on location in the Mexican Mennonite community near Chihuahua, silent Light opens with what is...