What Remains of Elsie Jane - by Chelsea Wakelyn Paperback

About the Book

A single mother has just lost her soulmate, who has died unexpectedly. She tries to date too soon, confused by her grief, and she starts to unravel. Is she really capable of time travel, or is she going a little nuts?

Book Synopsis

"A poignant, laugh-out-loud funny, weird, and heartbreaking window into being bereft and being in love... a striking reminder that there can be beauty in devastation." -- EMILY AUSTIN, author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead

A heartbreaking and darkly funny portrait of a woman unravelling in the wake of tragedy.

Sam is dead, which means that Elsie Jane has just lost the brilliant, sensitive man she planned to grow old with. The early days of grief are a fog of work and single parenting. Too restless to sleep, Elsie pores over Sam's old love letters, paces her house, and bickers with the ghosts of Sam and her dead parents night after night. As the year unfolds, she develops an obsession with a local murder mystery, attends a series of disastrous internet dates in search of a "replacement soulmate," and solicits a space-time wizard via Craigslist, convinced he will help her forge a path through the cosmos back to Sam.

Examining the ceaseless labour of motherhood, the stigma of death by drug poisoning, and the allure of magical thinking in the wake of tragedy, What Remains of Elsie Jane is a heart-splitting reminder that grief is born from the depths of love.

A RARE MACHINES BOOK

Review Quotes

This sense of the novel as TV is exacerbated by Elsie's fast-paced, acutely self-aware speech, rather reminiscent of Gilmore Girls.-- "Literary Review of Canada"

This novel about death just pulses with life, with a force as compelling as the one that kept me turning the pages. I absolutely adored it.

-- "Kerry Clare, author of Asking for a Friend"

This is Wakelyn's first book, and she demonstrates an astounding talent for combining comedy with tragedy. In this aspect, Wakelyn shares many of Miriam Toews' extraordinary gifts.-- "The British Columbia Review"

Elsie is depicted so clearly in her absurd state of loss, a powerful feat which resonates...I needed this book, and maybe you do, too.-- "Vancouver Writers Fest"

I've never read a book which so completely captures the way time bends when you're in the middle of a completely traumatic event, like a sudden death. What Remains of Elsie Jane is tender and funny and sad, but it's also deeply realistic, even as Elsie seems to go off the rails.-- "The Miramichi Reader"

It's a beautifully written, complicated, intimate story that's as weird as it is honest -- just as grief often is. I highly recommend!-- "The Southern Bookseller"

What Remains of Elsie Jane reads like A Year of Magical Thinking, if it had been written by Nora Ephron instead of Joan Didion -- but by a Nora Ephron who coped with tragedy by clumsily summoning wizards instead of making carbonara. What Remains of Elsie Jane is an exploration of grief that manages to avoid self-seriousness. The behaviour of those around the aggrieved is so sharply observed you'll think that Evelyn Waugh dipped in to give his notes on the behaviour of Pacific Northwest millennials. It made me laugh, it made me cry, it made me blush, sometimes it made me do all three on the same page.-- "Eva Jurczyk, author of The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections"

In this remarkably intimate portrait of grief, Chelsea Wakelyn deftly weaves comedy and tragedy in the wake of a marriage destroyed by drug poisoning. With a sure touch, Wakelyn dismantles the stereotypes of those affected by this too common issue. The narrator's unique voice is at once relatable and unhinged, the powerful pulls of rage and love on full and magnificent display, bringing to life a fully realized humanity as only honestly drawn fiction can do.

-- "Lilian Nattel, bestselling author of The River Midnight and Girl At The Edge of Sky"

The novel handles the complexities of grief through sarcasm and Elsie's personal thoughts as she attempts to regain control of her life...It's her obsession with her fantasy that helps Elsie to stay afloat.-- "Foreword Reviews"

What Remains of Elsie Jane reads like a side-splitting obituary. A poignant, laugh-out-loud funny, weird, and heartbreaking window into being bereft and being in love. This book is a striking reminder that there can be beauty in devastation.-- "Emily Austin, author of Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead"

To read What Remains of Elsie Jane is to encounter a raw, sometimes angry, and always messy grief. Wakelyn captures a woman falling apart and putting herself back together in the dynamic voice of her complicated protagonist. In her multiverse-curious widowhood, Elsie is unrelentingly hopeful without being cheerful, loving without being good.-- "Liz Harmer, author of The Amateurs and Strange Loops"

About the Author

Chelsea Wakelyn is a writer, musician, and mother to two lovely, eccentric humans. She lives on Vancouver Island.