'The short stories in Alison Acheson's Learning to Live Indoors deal with family relationships. Acheson, who lives in British Columbia, has previously published two young adult novels, one of which was shortlisted for several awards. But although this collection is full of domestic detail, there is nothing cozy about the stories.'

Alison Acheson has published two teen novels, Molly's Cue and Mud Girl, which was a finalist for CLA’s Book of the Year. She's also released a YA novel, The Half-Pipe Kidd and the juvie chapter book Thunder Ice, a finalist for the Geoffrey Bilson Award, and the Manitoba and Red Cedar (BC) young readers choice awards. She has also published a picture book, Grandpa’s Music—A Story About Alzheimer’s. Alison Acheson has taught in the creative writing program at the University of British Columbia, and continues to teach and write in the town of Ladner, BC, where she lives with her spouse and three sons.

Alison Acheson's profile page

'At her best, Acheson is able to capture in prose all those little emotional struggles -- the small, significant ones that really do go on in our minds -- that encapsulate ordinary living.'

The Manitoban

'Glossing sagely on the resilient question of what literature is for, Norman Mailer wrote in a recent book review that its true purpose is ''comprehending a little more about men or women''. In other words, the fewer pyrotechnics, recipes, space aliens or plutonium heists the better. Fiction can be an entertaining or comforting diversion from the traumas and banalities of life, or it can grace the usual (or the unfamiliar) with revelatory light. At best it offers not rote sensation, but an arresting and crystalline clarity. ... Alison Acheson has a gift of clarity. Of the twelve stories in Learning to Live Indoors, four achieve the crystalline in varying degrees. The rest, though less compelling, offer intriguing characters, some delicious twists and prose that remains lucid and assured.'

Globe & Mail