Romance, scandal, and tragedy grip the lives of two families and threaten to destroy them both in Ravenscraig, by Sandi Krawchenko Altner. Winner of the 2012 Carol Shields Book Award, Ravenscraig, pitches rich against poor in the height of the immigration boom a century ago. Rupert Willows buries his cruel past and schemes his way to wealth and power when he buys his opulent home, Ravenscraig Hall. Zev Zigman, a devout Jew, mounts a desperate struggle to bring his family out of czarist Russia. At the center is the feisty Maisie, who hides her Jewish roots to enter the world of "The English" as a well-paid maid at Ravenscraig. Love, anger and determination fuel the treacherous journey ahead.

The writer Alain Farah is living in two time periods, and he feels out of place in both. At the opening of his story, we find ourselves at McGill in 1962 and 2012. But the real problem lies elsewhere: on campus, a psychiatrist is conducting dangerous and unethical experiments on his patients. The writer’s uncle, Nab Safi, knows something about it, but soon he won’t be around to tell his story. And so begins an investigation in which time, place, memory, and people collide. A mother in the Lebanese ghetto bets her son in a game of dice to settle her debts. Dinosaurs are resurrected. An odd gun will be used to determine the outcome for those who truly believe. A torn old photo and a gothic swimming pool lead to the disturbing depths of Ravenscrag, a mournful manor with 36 chambers... Ravenscrag is an intriguing and truly original blend of retro science fiction and autobiography. It’s about resilience, literature as remedy, and ultimately, it’s a novel about survival through storytelling.

1901 is accompanied by atlas of maps.