Ruth Anne Latta

The fictional central character in my new novel, Forty Mermaids is a serious artist who participates in a real-life artists' group, the Montreal-based Contemporary Arts Society, which was a force for modernism between 1939 and 1948. Instrumental in starting this organization was John Lyman (1886-1967.  Lyman, who grew up in Montreal, was connected to the prosperous Morgan family of department store fame in that city. At twenty, he went to Paris, where he met and made friends with the Canadian painter, James W. Morrice, and studied at the Matisse school. His 1913 exhibition in Montreal did not go over well with either critics or the public the time, experimental, unconventional art was mistrusted. The public and the art gate-keepers were used to representational, figurative art, which "held a mirror up to nature."   After receiving these bad reviews, Lyman and his wife, Corinne Saint-Pierre, spent the next eighteen years in Europe and California, until strained finance...

The History of Forty Mermaids by Ruth Latta   "Une histoire" generally translates into English as a story,”a fictional tale or anecdote, while "l'histoire" means history as an academic subject or an account of true past events. My new novel, Forty Mermaid s (Ottawa, Baico, 2026) is both. It’s a work of fiction which takes place against a backdrop of real events. It came out of my love of stories and my history background (M.A., Queen’s, 1973), and is my sixth Canadian historical novel focussed on a woman central character, whether historical or imaginary. The main characters in my earlier novels are: a folk song collector; a future feminist Member of Parliament; a women’s suffrage advocate; an aspiring fashion designer thwarted by the Great Depression, and a trade union leader.   My husband’s interest in art gave me the idea of creating a Canadian woman artist as my next central character. When Roger retired from microbiology and began painting as a hobby, ...