Writing at the top of her game, Sharon Butala returns to the short story in this astounding new collection. In Butala’s world, the season of fury and wonder is the season of old age. The stories in this book are the stories of women who have had experiences; women who have seen much of life and have felt the joy of success and the sting of shortcomings; women who hold opinions and come to conclusions about the lives they’ve lived.

But Sharon Butala gives us more — not only is each story an observation on aging, each story in Season of Fury and Wonder pays tribute to a classic work of literature that has had an impact on Butala’s writing. Among these writers are Raymond Carver, Willa Cather, Flannery O’Connor, John Cheever, James Joyce, Shirley Jackson, Anton Chekhov, Alan Sillitoe, Ernest Hemingway and Edgar Allan Poe. The result of Butala’s effort is a series of deeply felt tributes to these writers, to the creativity and their power to inspire.

Sharon Butala is an award-winning author of nineteen books, numerous articles and essays, poetry and five published plays. She has three times been a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award. Butala is a recipient of the Marian Engel Award, the Saskatchewan Order of Merit, the 2012 Cheryl and Henry Kloppenburg Award for Literary Excellence, and the City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize. In 2002 she became an Officer of the Order of Canada. She lives in Calgary, Alberta.

Butala's profile page

Nicole Nakoneshny has acted as a volunteer audiobook narrator with the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) for the past twenty-five years. A lifetime avid reader, Nicole is passionate about sharing books and stories and loves bringing written works to life for listeners. Having recently retired from a professional career in fundraising consulting, Nicole is currently training to become a psychotherapist. After spending several decades living in Toronto, she recently returned to her home province of Manitoba and lives in Winnipeg with her beloved one-eyed cat, Glenn.

Nicole Nakoneshny's profile page

• Winner, City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Book Prize

"This fearless collection of short stories addresses head-on the physical, emotional, and spiritual challenges of aging women. The protagonists in these stories do not just rage against the dying of the light; they grab it by the throat, forcing the reader to confront uncomfortable and revelatory truth concerning what it is to age in a female body. Inspired by canonical stories such as John Cheever’s 'The Swimmer,' James Joyce's 'The Dead,' and Shirley Jackson’s 'The Lottery,' Butala reinvigorates aging myths and the writing craft itself. Season of Fury and Wonder is poetic, flawless, and unflinching."

Jury, Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize