NeWest Press published My Beloved Wager nearly a year ago, but reviews of Erín Moure's sprightly collection of essays continue to pop up in literary journals across North America. One of our favourites was written by James Edward Reid and appears in the August 2010 issue of the Montreal litmag Vallum. The article isn't available online, so allow us to share a couple of choice paragraphs:

"Near the end of the essay 'It Remained Unheard,' we read, 'Because when I put my ear to paper, I hear guns and money, the thoughtless oppression of women, of labour in the third world by we who wear its clothes, the death of bees and songbirds, the loss of wetlands, the rising of the great Antarctic shelf as the ice that holds it down melts away. Phooey on the poetic voice.'

"Phooey? Count me in. While many essays and reviews exemplify caution, incremental knowledge creep or creeps, and careerist backscratching, the ebullience and brilliance of My Beloved Wager breathes vigourous life into a sometimes moribund genre. Reading her, the weaknesses of essayists such as Montaigne, and their often class-bound aperçus throw these pale shadows and their pale riders into sharp relief."

Ouch! Hear that, Montaigne? Erín Moure is gunning for you!