Sour & Sweet by Peter Turner

Our long-time contributor to the paper, Peter Turner, just published his third book, Sour & Sweet. This collection of 13 short stories and 3 memorials was launched last December at The Little Book Fair in Sutton and has received much praise since. For those not familiar with the author, Peter Turner has lived with his family in the Eastern Townships for more than 40 years, practising law in Cowansville while teaching international human rights law at several universities. He has also been involved in public affairs at all levels of government.

Recurring themes

In 2017, Peter Turner published a collection of short stories, Bullpout, Old Dogs and Stone Walls and a novel in 2021, Linebound, between covers illustrated by Stéphane Lemardelé, a Sutton-based artist. There are definitely recurring themes in Peter Turner’s books. For one part, his stories often take root in the Townships where the anglophone and francophone cultures live side by side and sometimes collide like many other themes tackled in his books: rich and poor, rural and urban, men and women, literate and illiterate, beautiful and ugly, humour and tragedy. Peter loves to use colourful colloquial language and bring to light life’s unusual characters and quirkiness.  

Always entertaining

At the venerable age of 84, Peter says of Sour & Sweet, that it is “an end-of-the-road grab bag of fiction, travel, experiences and memorials to several old friends. From a Shanghai hot tub to camping in Yemeni mountains and from an awkward encounter with kd lang and to Grey Cup 1962.” Always novel and entertaining, Turner promises this is his swan song. You can grab a hold of it in the area at Brome Lake Books, Papeterie Cowansville, Galerie Farfelu and L’Échappée belle in Sutton or at www.peterturnerstories.com. For a signed copy or welcomed feedback, you can write to pturner99@gmail.com.

Geneviève Hébert