Darcie Friesen Hossack is a graduate of the Humber School for Writers, where she was mentored by Giller Prize finalist Sandra Birdsell (The Russlander, Children of the Day). Her stories have appeared in publications such as Half in the Sun (Ronsdale Press), an anthology of Mennonite literature; Rhubarb Magazine; and Prairie Journal. Mennonites Don't Dance collects a number of these acclaimed tales, including "Year of the Grasshopper," which was nominated for the prestigious Writers' Trust of Canada/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize, and "Dandelion Wine" and "Ashes," which were both finalists in UBC-Okanagan's Okanagan Short Fiction Contest.
A Kelowna and Kamloops-area food columnist for the past six years, Darcie is currently working on a novel titled What Looks In, which explores the spiritual abuse and deliverance of a family divided by grief and Protestantism.
Fourteen-year-old Lizzy Schiltz lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, the daughter of a Mennonite mother and Seventh Day Adventist father. Raised in her father's tradition of Sabbath-keeping and vegetarianism, Lizzy and her younger brother, Zach, go to church every Saturday and attend private school at the Adventist academy down the road. There they learn math, science and social studies, along with teachings from the church's 19th century prophet, a woman who suffered a head injury before beginning to speak God's word. Lizzy's life seems as protected as leftovers in a Tupperware bowl, but lately she feels as though she's running out of air.
Tending towards extremes in both moods and matters of religion, Lizzy's father Simon finds the world pressing in on the walls he works to create. When he meets the green-suited leader of the Still Water Adventist Commune, Simon believes he's found a refuge from the influences at their doorstep. Although the rest of the family doesn't share his conviction, Simon is determined. Either they will agree to go, or he will decide for them.
But when the car Simon is driving plunges into a lake, killing his wife and voice of reason, Simon winds himself into a cocoon of depression and leaves Lizzy to fill the vacuum left behind by her mother.
Then one day, Lizzy acts her age, taking her roller skates to the rink on Highway 97, where they play rock videos and sell hot dogs and cups of sugary blue slush—and within weeks, she and what remains of her family become Still Water Commune's newest residents.
As far as Lizzy can tell, there's no going back. Not even after she discovers her brother spending time with an older boy who likes to start fires, whose destructive habits are overlooked because he seems to have a gift for interpreting prophesy.
When Lizzy is burned while extinguishing a fire set by her brother, Lizzy makes a decision. With her father unwilling to be parted from his spiritual haven, she steals a jar of money from the kitchen and packs two eggless egg salad sandwiches into a paper bag. She and Zach hitch a ride to the nearest Greyhound Bus Depot where they buy a pair of tickets to Saskatchewan and the Mennonite aunt and uncle waiting to introduce them to the life their mother left behind.
Mennonites Don't Dance stories is a collection of eleven short stories, each set on the Canadian prairies where Darcie Friesen Hossack spent her childhood. Together the stories form a picture of family, often torn apart at the seams. They explore the ties between young and grown children and their parents and grandparents, generational sins and redemption.