Clara Callan

Clara Callan is an epistolary novel set between 1934 and 1939, chronicling the lives of two Canadian sisters, Clara and Nora Callan, on the eve of World War II. The story unfolds through their intimate correspondence and Clara's private journal entries. Clara, a strong-willed schoolteacher, remains in their small, rural Ontario town, while her younger, more glamorous sister, Nora, moves to New York to pursue a career as a radio soap opera star. Though vastly different in personality, the sisters are inextricably linked by a shared past, and they each struggle to find their place within the complex web of social expectations for young women in the 1930s. As Nora’s letters reveal a less exotic reality in the big city, Clara's seemingly tranquil life is shattered by a series of difficult and unforeseeable events, testing her courage and the limits of their sisterly bond. The novel explores themes of sisterhood, love, violence, and loss against the backdrop of the Depression, the threat of fascism, and the rise of radio and movies.

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