Here: Stories by Heidi Wicks
Reviewed by Shannon MacLeod
Stories from one house, over one hundred years
Here by Heidi Wicks is a collection of interconnected short stories that bend time, weaving together a wide-ranging cast of characters as they pass through a single mansion in Newfoundland. Each story confronts themes of family, perseverance, redemption, and survival through the lens of the house’s silent, watchful presence.
Known locally as the big house on Circular, this home witnesses more than a century of life. Its inhabitants range from aristocrats to hippies, housemaids to an all-girl rock band, a politician, a theologian, a biologist, a ballerina, and even a crow. Each chapter offers a glimpse into another life, another moment in time, showing how deeply rooted personal stories can become in the walls that surround them.
“That’s what Here captures so effectively: how homes outlast the people who live in them, quietly absorbing the joys and heartaches of our lives.”
Threaded throughout Wicks’ narrative are themes of mental health, addiction, and the challenges faced by women across the 20th century. She doesn’t offer clean answers, happy endings, or tidy resolutions, because, as we know, real life rarely does. Instead, her stories sit with the discomfort, the beauty, and the quiet resilience of people trying to make their way in the world.
Wicks’ writing is solid, with bursts of Newfoundland dialect that ground the book firmly in place. Having met a handful of Newfoundlanders over the years, I’m quite familiar with the accent, and I found myself whispering bits of dialogue out loud just to hear it land. The prose is deliciously Canadian when she tosses in references to Blue Star beer, calls a couch a chesterfield, and uses phrases like “Where’s it to again?” with authenticity.
As someone who recently sold their first home and bought a new one, reading Here struck a chord in a personal way. My husband and I spent eight happy years in our first house in Miramichi. We made it our own by painting walls, renovating the kitchen, hosting friends, grieving the loss of our first dog, tending to vegetable gardens, and filling it with moments that became memories.
Although we’ve moved on, another couple now lives there, starting their story where ours left off. That’s what Here captures so effectively: how homes outlast the people who live in them, quietly absorbing the joys and heartaches of our lives.
Each chapter reminded me that while the walls may not speak, they remember. Wicks’ writing made me wonder what echoes of us (besides dog hair) still linger in the corners of our old house, and what new stories are already beginning to take shape within it.
This was the first work by Wicks that I’ve read, and I look forward to what she’ll publish next.
About the Author
Heidi Wicks has written for Riddle Fence, Newfoundland Quarterly, and The Globe and Mail. Her debut novel, Melt (2020), was featured in the Globe and Mail’s Hot Summer Reads list and received a silver medal IPPY (Independent Publisher) award. She also received the 2019 Cox and Palmer Creative Writing Award. She is featured in the short fiction collection Hard Ticket and the creative nonfiction collection Best Kind. She lives in her beloved hometown of St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador.
About the Reviewer
A former newspaper editor, Shannon MacLeod is passionate about Canadian Press Style and typography (she gets twitchy when she is forced to read certain fonts). Shannon enjoys music (singing, playing, and listening), gardening, cooking, baking, reading, and being active in her community. She loves spending time with her husband DJ, and her dogs, Moe (a pug) and Bronson (a border collie). Shannon has a Bachelor of Arts from Mount Allison University with a double major in French literature and Canadian history, as well as a journalism certificate from Holland College and has completed training from the International Association for Public Participation. Professionally, Shannon is a Primary Care Engagement Advisor for Horizon Health Network. After living for 12 happy years in Miramichi, in December 2024, Shannon has started a new chapter living in Cocagne.
Book Details
Publisher: Breakwater Books
Publication date: May 13, 2025
ISBN-10: 1778530559
ISBN-13: 978-1778530555