Set during the 1995 referendum in Quebec, Jump follows the story of Myra Grant, a free-lance journalist and theatre buff who faces an empty nest and an inner call for change. Dragged down by friends and enemies alike, weary from decades of single motherhood, she breaks loose from an old life and embraces a new.
Jump drew positive reviews and enjoyed good word of mouth, making it a best seller in Quebec.
The Globe and Mail called Jump
“an authoritative and engaging dispatch from Quebec’s unique crucible of the personal and the political. … Ackerman’s rendering of zero-budget theatre life is spot-on and sometimes very funny.”
Writer Joe Fiorito wrote,
“Jump is charming and witty, stylish and anxious, a clever portrait of the endless crise d’identité that is life in Montreal".
Quill and Quire reviewer Padma Viswanathan wrote,
“Ackerman’s self-referential plot (Myra’s best friend writes a bilingual play for his alternative theatre, just as the author did for hers) and deadly accurate social realism (much of Jump’s action takes place in haunts very familiar to a certain Montreal set) risk boring as many readers as they titillate. But her book engages because its people live and breathe. The central romance here is Myra’s love for Montreal, which Ackerman evidently shares. She has created sympathetic, troubled, interesting characters, just the sort whose hearts propel the city’s pulse.”
The Gazette suggested the writing must have been good therapy for the author.
“Ackerman’s Jump has an acerbic wit that will make Montrealers squirm, nod knowingly and laugh out loud."
Jump is available at Paragraph Bookstore in Montreal, and via amazon.com or indigo.com.
Most bookstores will order.