Late Nights on Air

Right now I'm reading Late Nights on Air by Elizabeth Hay. It was all over bookstores when we were in Canada in October, and it won the Giller Prize in November (Canada's big literary prize). It took me awhile to get into it, but now I really like it. It's set in mid 1970s Yellowknife, Canada, the largest city (about 10,000) in Canada's sparsely populated Northwest Territories. The story centers on about five main characters that work in a public radio station, most of whom are transplants from more populated areas of southern Canada, such as Toronto. I like the characters, especially Gwen and Dido, two young female characters who find themselves at odds, but really have quite a bit in common. I also like the political subplot about an energy company wanting to build a gas pipeline through the area that's intensifying racial tensions between the native populations and the mostly white newcomers to the area. I'm about halfway through, and the long dark winter has just set in.