Sheckels (English and communications, Randolph-Macon College) noticed how often the female protagonists of these writers went off to an island or were already there, and had positive or negative experiences. He explores the island motif in 20th- century novels by Canadian women from the perspectives of redemptive retreats, holding patterns, small-town traps, and fantasy traps. A whole chapter is devoted to Atwood's Surfacing . Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
