Carol Shields

Dressing Up for the Carnival is a short story collection published in 2000 by Canadian author Carol Shields, which depicts 12 characters who live their lives through illusions. The Carnival is a metaphor for life, and "dressing up" represents the stigmas each of the characters try to fit into.

Two novels in one, Happenstance tells the story of a marriage from the individual perspectives of a husband and wife at a turning point in their relationshipWhen we meet Brenda Bowman in “The Wife’s Story,” the forty-year-old mother of two is preparing to fly to Philadelphia to attend a craft convention that will …

Portrays a happily married man's mid-life crisis, involving new evaluations of friends, family, career associates, and particularly himself, when his loving wife goes away for a short time