Reading has been my greatest joy all my life. I had to read enough before I was ready to write, states Elizabeth Reimer Bartel.
By Whatever Name is the tale of a destructive spiritual upheaval in a small village in Manitoba which resonates through the following generations. After thirty years on Vancouver Island, Bartel has not forgotten the prairie soil and sky of her childhood.
Bartel’s first novel Even Such is Time appeared in 2002. “A compelling family saga lays bare the conflicts, successes and failures of the young protagonist. No one is allowed sainthood,” wrote Armin Wiebe, a noted author.
Bartel went on to found a poetry co-op called The Mostly Poets. This group of eight diverse women jointly published A Murder of Crones. Sheila Munroe in her review said
The small epiphanies and meditations, all are represented here in these distinctive voices.
About Those Reimers, Bartel’s memoir, which includes details of her sojourn on Vancouver Island during WW2 appeared in 2010.
It is an appealing voice that turns the pages of this memoir, revealing heritage for the mixed blessing and burden it is, – commented Dora Dueck in a review for the Canadian Mennonite.
Elizabeth Reimer Bartel 