In this luminous first novel that sings into being a haunting story of women's lives, Erika de Vasconcelos follows the connections that remain when you move from a European past to a North American present, the emotional legacies you inherit, the bonds that hold or break.

Erika de Vasconcelos' profile page

Erika de Vasconcelos is currently writing her second novel. She lives in Toronto.

"Stunning.... de Vasconcelos has created some of the strongest and most complex female characters in contemporary Canadian fiction."—The Globe and Mail

"What is especially wonderful about My Darling Dead Ones is the abundance of life teeming through its pages: The Portuguese landscape of hilly, yellow-stuccoed houses is palpable; Magdelena's flat in Lisbon invites exploration of its quaint clutter; one sniffs the fresh scent of earth as Leninha creates a back room of hostas and calla lilies in her suburban Montreal garden. [Here] is a complex and sumptuous world.... There is much comfort and delight in My Darling Dead Ones."—Quill & Quire

"Magic.... Like Spanish writer Federico Garcia Lorca and Irish playwright John Millington Synge, de Vasconcelos understands the deep-rooted relationship between soil and soul.... Brilliant."—The Financial Post

"... emotionally engaging ... It's a book that distils authentic experience and peddles its feminism lightly. Women will enjoy it ... and men, too." —The Toronto Star

"De Vasconcelos has a lush and tantalizing way with a story: she foreshadows and backtracks, building up tension, then replaying events after the fact in the mind." —The Montreal Gazette

"[My Darling Dead Ones] has the intense and urgent cadence of a whispered confidence, and de Vasconcelos'flair for economical description is particularly potent in evoking the sights, sounds and smells of Portugal." —NOW Magazine

"... a compelling story of four strong, intelligent, passionate women... De Vasconcelos'writing style is effective and purposeful.... A lovely, ... even beautiful novel." —The Sherbrooke Record