“There’s no better place to start a book tour, “ says ex-Winnipegger and author, Brenda Barrie, talking about her third novel, An Unorthodox Romance, which will be launched, Thursday, April 24, at McNally-Robinson on Grant Avenue at seven-thirty p.m. “After all, It’s home.  I have family and friends here, like no other place in the world.  And, there is no better bookstore, anywhere.  Winnipegger’s have a treasure here in McNally.”

“It’s the perfect opportunity to get home.  It’s not deep dark winter anymore, and most of my family, including a brand new great-granddaughter will be home for Passover,” she says, except for one grandson in Haifa, who she won’t see until August.

Barrie, whose book reviews appear from time to time in this newspaper, lives in Orange County, CA with her husband, Sid Bursten, but all three of her novels have been launched in Winnipeg.

Barrie says that each of her three novels, The Binding, The Rabbi’s Husband and now An Unorthodox Romance, deals with an issue in the community she considers imnportant:  The Binding, with the feelings of the children of Holocaust survivors, The Rabbi’s Husband with how women relate to their new role in a community position that was male for so long, and finally, An Unorthodox Romance, with some of the issues around the differences in marriage and divorce in the Diaspora and in Israel.  “But I didn’t want to address the issues of the agunot, chained women.  It is so crucial, and I don’t have an answer any more than anyone else.  This book is more of a turn-about scenario,” Barrie promises.

“Not that I set out to write ‘issue’ novels.  I didn’t,” Barrie says. “I was half way through the second book before I realized that this is what I was doing.”

 Her background in Jewish communal work, as JCRC director in Winnipeg and later in similar roles in the Twin Cities, in Orange County and in Baltimore, gave her more than enough material.

Barrie hopes at least one of her next novels will be a departure from the contemporary theme.  “I’ve been researching a Biblical novel for years.   I hope I have enough time to write it. I certainly have enough material.  Check in with me in about two years.”

An Unorthodox Romance, The Binding and The Rabbi’s Husband will be available from McNally Robinson during April and part of May. After that they are available on Amazon and Kindle.

Following the launch on April 24 at McNally-Robinson, Brenda’s newest book will be launched on April 29 in Minneapolis, early in May in Chicago, (details still to be announced) and later in May in Orange County, CA.