The Secret Life of Doris Melnick

“Doris? You asked me who was Doris?” And then I remembered. “Doris was the woman who worked one of our cash registers at FoodWorld, forever and maybe even longer. But nobody knew a thing about her, or even wanted to because she was plain as a post, always kept to herself, with buttoned lip saying nothing. And then we guessed one day she must be dead because for a whole week she wasn’t there at the Cash. No warning, no nothing about her, not till we heard rumour she’d left behind her house to someone she’d never known, who’d found in the house this journal full of crazy stories Doris had written, and piles and piles of drawings and paintings so fantastic you’d never believe anyone could see herself like that. The secret life of Doris Melnick! The woman not one of us knew though she’d been there all that time. So what does that mean, I wonder?”
—Statement by Alice Geerson, FoodWorld clerk

Gail Prussky is an ex-addiction therapist who moved from Toronto to rural Ontario in 2007. In this slowed-down setting, it suddenly occurred to her that if she didn’t write and make art (a new-found passion), she’d probably become a serial killer. Taking this into consideration, she owes much of her creative side to her desire to never experience incarceration. The fact that many people enjoy her work has been a bonus. Gail’s art has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows, and is in collections around the world.

Her first book (2016) is Broken Balloons: beautifully drawn and painted, accompanied by stories and poems, this is a wonderful menagerie of insects, animals, and people that are startling, at times frightening, but always grin-inducing over the pages. The 54 black-and-white and 16 colour works of art see the artist-author take her place alongside Edward Gorey, Ralph Steadman, Gary Larson, Robert Crumb and Maurice Sendak. Foreword by David Cronenberg. 8 x 8.25 COLOUR TPB 978-1-55096-545-2 $19.95   Buy this book: Go to Broken Balloons