On Tuesday, May 03 at 6pm, join Massy Arts, Massy Books, and author Frances Peck for a reading of her debut novel: The Broken Places (NeWest Press, 2022).

At the event, Peck will be joined by co-readers Karen Hofmann and Traci Skuce for a night of conversations around literature, love, and resilience.

The Broken Places takes place in Vancouver and follows an earthquake that erupts the city in chaos and fear. Kyle’s and Charlotte’s families, along with two passersby, are thrown together in an oceanfront mansion. The conflicts that beset these wildly different people expose the fault lines beneath their relationships, as they question everything in an effort to survive and reunite with their loved ones stranded outside the city.

The event will be hosted at the Massy Arts Gallery, at 23 East Pender Street in Chinatown, Vancouver.

This event is free + open to all of our community, and registration is mandatory.

Covid Protocols: For all in-person events, attendees must provide proof of vaccination, wear a mask (N95 masks are encouraged and recommended as they offer the best protection), and consent to having their temperature checked at the front door. We ask that if you are showing any symptoms, that you stay home. Thank you kindly.

Click here to register for the event

Click here to purchase The Broken Places

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Book Synopsis

Vancouver. A day like any other. Kyle, a successful cosmetic surgeon, is punishing himself with a sprint up a mountain. Charlotte, wife of a tech tycoon, is combing the farm belt for local cheese and a sense of purpose. Back in the city their families go about their business: landscaping, negotiating deals, skipping school. It’s a day like any other—until suddenly it’s not.

When the earthquake hits, the city erupts in chaos and fear. Kyle’s and Charlotte’s families, along with two passersby, are thrown together in an oceanfront mansion. The conflicts that beset these wildly different people expose the fault lines beneath their relationships, as they question everything in an effort to survive and reunite with their loved ones stranded outside the city.

Frances Peck’s debut novel examines the unpredictable ways in which disaster can shake up lives and test personal resilience.

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The Author

Frances Peck wrote fiction and poetry until her early twenties, when the realities of adulthood and rent steered her toward a career as a freelance ghostwriter, editor, and teacher. Best known for her workshops and presentations on the finer points of language, she’s the author of Peck’s English Pointers, a collection of lively essays.

She is a co-author of the HyperGrammar website, and an essayist and blogger whose work has appeared in The Editors’ Weekly, West Coast Editor, Language Update, and Geist.

Frances has been steadily making her way across Canada. She grew up in Cape Breton, NS; spent nearly two decades in Ottawa, ON; and now lives in North Vancouver, BC.

In her off-time she has been a campus radio deejay, a taekwon-do practitioner, a bass player, and a backcountry hiker. She is a long-time member and volunteer with Editors Canada and spent five years on the board of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes.

Now Frances has returned to her first love, fiction. The Broken Places, her debut novel, is part of the Nunatak First Fiction Series.

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