A Three-Tiered Pastel Dream

A career-focused woman finds her life taken off course by an unexpected pregnancy and its challenging aftermath; a troubled doctor abandons her family on her daughter’s birthday, the three-tiered pastel layer cake in the passenger seat beside her; a young mother must contend with how to explain her husband’s suicide to their child. In her first story collection, Lesley Trites digs bravely into the dilemmas faced by contemporary women who must be everything to everyone, as they navigate the triangle of responsibilities between motherhood, work, and love.

Written with keen insight and deep affection, Lesley Trites’s A Three-Tiered Pastel Dream unearths pearls of wisdom from the secret lives of women who could easily live next door, drop off their kids at the same school, or work in the next cubicle.

Reviews

“Characterized by delicacy in style and in form, Trites’s writing leaves a reader better attuned to what, in stories and in life, often goes unsaid and unnoticed.” – Danielle Barkley, Montreal Review of Books

“This debut collection of short stories from Montreal writer Trites … gazes deeply into modern womanhood and the way in which having it all can easily slip into wistful envy.” – Publisher’s Weekly

“These stories are captivating. Read them.” – Lynne C. Martin, The Winnipeg Review

“There’s a claustrophobic and secretive quality to Montreal writer Lesley Trites’s debut, a book of short stories that illuminates the lives of girls and women.” – Shazia Hafiz Ramji, Quill & Quire

“Bien qu’elle soit pour l’essentiel une (très fine) observatrice de l’intime, Lesley Trites est également la chroniqueuse des conséquences — isolement, jugements, violence — avec lesquelles doivent vivre (encore) les femmes qui souhaitent éprouver les limites de leur liberté.” – Dominic Tardif, Le Devoir

“Lesley Trites a un sens de l’observation aiguisé et une immense empathie pour ses personnages…. On lit ces nouvelles avec le coeur serré, regrettant ce qui aurait pu, mais saluant l’honnêteté de l’auteure qui raconte la vie telle qu’elle est : imparfaite.” – Nathalie Collard, La Presse