BY: Maia Sepp, DATE: 2013, AVAILABLE: Amazon, Chapters Indigo, TRANSLATIONS: Estonian and Latvian
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Maia Sepp, born in 1955, worked in the tech sector before becoming a published author. She is an Estonian-Canadian living in downtown Toronto. Similar to the novel’s main character, Viive, Maia has also suffered from migraines her whole life. Maia Sepp is now writing under the pen name Maia Ross. A new mystery series features an Estonian neighbour inspired by Maia’s kringel-making Vanaema.
“Sometimes painful, frequently hilarious, always entertaining.” – KOBO books
ABOUT:
Viive McBroom, the novel’s main character, has a supportive Canadian husband and a caring Estonian mother. Viive suffers from severe and chronic migraines that impact every aspect of her life. She finally finds relief from a support group called The Migraine Mafia. Viive finally learns how to ask for and receive help.
QUOTES:
“I wanted a nice, Canadian, pronouncable name. My mother admitted once, after getting in too deeply into the vodka at an Independence Day party, that perhaps something simpler would have been a better choice, a conversation she denies to this day.”
“I’ve always taken after the Scandinavian side of my family: pale, morose, sauna loving.”
“People in my family don’t go out in public and complain about their lives… God only knows how they learned English.”
“In one smooth movement she takes the rolls into her purse… ‘Igaks juhuks’ just in case.”
“If I close my eyes I can see my mother telling me. PERE ON KÕIK. Family is everything. Ours was so small, so few people got out, we can’t take family members for granted.”
“The server comes by and asks us what we’ll order. Her hair is almost white blond like my mom’s and mine, her cheeks are pale and her wrists are small and delicate. She looks like the other kind of Estonian, super tall, thin and dainty. My mom and I run to the other type; thicker, shorter, burlier. One generation from the farm.”
REVIEWS: “Reading this story may help you find some relief too.” (healthline)
“Sometimes painful, frequently hilarious, always entertaining.” (KOBO books)
