Crackpot by Adele Wiseman

A radiant novel resonant with myth and superstition, Crackpot is a joyous celebration of life and the mystery that is at the heart of all experience.

Hoda is earthy, bawdy, vulnerable, big-hearted, and the daughter of an impoverished Jewish couple who emigrated from Russia to Canada to escape persecution. Growing up in a low-income area of Winnipeg, she transitions from a tumultuous childhood to a life of prostitution. In the neighborhood, she is considered a crackpot and worse; she experiences cruelty and bigotry early and fights back with humour and anger. In truth, she is a cracked pot, a flawed human being, but her quest for love, which brings hope out of humiliation, is one of the most memorable in modern fiction. 

Crackpot, set in the period between two world wars, is Adele Wiseman’s comic vision, for all its darkness. Somewhat satirically, the novel touches on puritanical hypocrisy and the inhumanity of institutions. Hoda, caught in a web of relationships in her family, is its great heartbeat.

Story Locale: Winnipeg, Canada

ADELE WISEMAN was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1928. She graduated from the University of Manitoba in 1949 and then, to support her commitment to writing, found employment as a social worker in England, a school teacher in Italy, and executive secretary to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Her first novel, The Sacrifice, won the Governor General’s Award. She wrote one other novel, Crackpot, as well as plays, children’s stories, essays, and other non-fiction. All her writings bring into Canadian literature the culture and the tradition of her Jewish heritage. Adele Wiseman died in Toronto, Ontario, in 1992.

Author Hometown: Winnipeg, Canada