Donna Milner (September 3, 1946 - November 11, 2021) was a Canadian writer. Milner was born and raised in

Victoria BC Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. The ...

. She lived in

Williams Lake, British Columbia Williams Lake is a city in the Central Interior of British Columbia, in the central part of a region known as the Cariboo. Williams Lake is the second largest city, by population of metropolitan area, in the Cariboo after neighbouring Quesnel. ...

, with her husband Tom. Donna wrote and published the books ''After River, The'' ''Promise of Rain, Somewhere in Between, ''and'' A Place Called Sorry''. She is often referred to as the "Oh, so Canadian author.

Books

After River

Her 2008 book ''After River'' is, according to bcbooklook, "about a woman coming to terms with the disintegration of her family some 35 years after a young American draft resister named River crossed the border into Canada and changed their lives". The book had a 4/5 star rating on

goodreads Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and readi ...

.com, from over 1,700 ratings . By 2015, the book had been published in 12 countries and into 8 languages.

Somewhere In Between

Milner described this book as "the story of a family dealing with loss and tragedy". One of the characters in the book, Virgil Blue, was inspired by a one-time resident of Milner's home city of

Personal life

Milner was born in

in 1946 and was raised in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

. She moved to

Rossland Rossland may refer to: Places *Rossland, British Columbia, British Columbia, Canada **Rossland City, provincial electoral district around Rossland, British Columbia (1903–1912) ** Rossland (electoral district), provincial electoral district aroun ...

where she married and had children. Having previously worked as a realtor for 25 years, Milner said in a 2014 interview she and her husband had lived in the

Cariboo The Cariboo is an intermontane region of British Columbia, Canada, centered on a plateau stretching from Fraser Canyon to the Cariboo Mountains. The name is a reference to the caribou that were once abundant in the region. The Cariboo was ...

for 40 years. She described that prefers writing in the morning and insists upon herself of writing at least two pages in longhand before she can leave the room. She used to go on writing retreats near Eagle Lake with a friend. She passed away on November 11th, 2021, after a short battle with cancer.

Recognition

Her book ''After River'' was listed in a top five fiction books list by ''

The Gettysburg Times ''The Gettysburg Times'' is an American newspaper in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham ...

'' in 2008, who described it as "beautifully written", while ''The Promise of Rain'' was listed in '' The Globe and Mail'' top 100 books in 2010. 9.The 2010 Globe 100: Canadian fiction
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Bibliography

*''After River'' (2008) *''The Promise of Rain'' (2010) *''Somewhere In Between'' (2014) *''A Place Called Sorry'' (2015)

References

External links

Homepage

2008 interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Milner, Donna 1946 births Living people Canadian women novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian women writers