Eliza Reid’s journey began on a hobby farm in the Ottawa Valley, then after she fell in love, moved to Iceland where she started a family. But when her husband was voted president there, she suddenly became the First Lady of Iceland.
This spring, she began yet another adventure with her debut murder mystery called Death on the Island.
“I came from a journalism background and so writing nonfiction for my first full length book sort of was kind of a logical next step,” she said.
“And then I thought, I wonder if it’s harder or easier to make the story and the people up. As it turns out, it’s harder in my opinion. But I did want another challenge and I’ve always loved murder mysteries, sort of Golden Age style murder mysteries, and I thought I would just give it a shot.”
The novel is set in Vestmannaeyjar (the Westman Islands) during a diplomatic dinner party. When the deputy ambassador of Canada dies suddenly, her boss, the Canadian ambassador, is quickly thrown under suspicion, and his wife must figure out everyone’s secrets to clear his name and save her crumbling marriage.
Eliza came from a reading family — her father was an English professor and her brother is award-winning author Iain Reid — so books have always been a part of her life.
She joined The Next Chapter host Antonio Michael Downing to talk about some of the books that have shaped and guided her.
Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
Reid’s first pick is a literary classic by an author whose style she says had a huge impact on her as a reader and on her latest book. The book is a murder mystery set on a train where someone is stabbed overnight.
Reid says: “It’s an old classic murder mystery and I’m sure that it’s the book that I’ve read the most. I’ve probably read it 50 times. And I think I first read it when I was 8 years old.
Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl
Her second pick is a memoir by celebrated chef and former New York Times food writer Ruth Reichl. The book chronicles her time spent as a New York Times food critic.
“I like the memoir genre and I read a lot of different memoirs and memoirs of people — not necessarily famous people, but people who have had something interesting happen to them or have led an interesting life in some way,” she said.
Reid says: “I love that there’s recipes in it, and it’s actually probably one of the books that I give away as a gift most often. It’s just fun, it’s smart, it’s a bit of escapism. I like it for lots of different reasons.”
Bloodhoof by Gerður Kristný
Reid’s next pick is one from her adopted Icelandic home. It’s a minimalist retelling of an ancient Icelandic story of gods and giants taken from the Poetic Edda.
“I’ve made Iceland my home for the past more than two decades. And Iceland has this long and rich literary heritage. Iceland’s, the land of the sagas — it’s a really literary focused society.”
Reid says: “I chose this one because I don’t read a lot of poetry, to be honest. But I see the value in it, but I like the sort of feminist underpinnings of this and the way that it represents a different perspective on telling an older story.”
In Seven Fallen Feathers, investigative journalist Tanya Talaga travels to Thunder Bay, Ont., to investigate the deaths of seven Indigenous teenagers: Jordan Wabasse, Kyle Morrisseau, Curran Strang, Robyn Harper, Paul Panacheese, Reggie Bushie and Jethro Anderson. Talaga looks at how their lives and untimely deaths can teach us about the injustice faced by Indigenous communities on a daily basis.
Seven Fallen Feathers won the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize for nonfiction.
Reid says: “I think when you narrow these huge problems down to these sort of specific stories, it really it lingers with you — both the prejudice that people had to tackle, the institutional issues that exist and really just the fact that this is something that we need to continue to talk about and, and face head on in Canada.”
Patriot: A Memoir by Alexei Navalny
Patriot is the memoir by Alexei Navalny, the Russian dissident who had been barred from running for president and died in prison just over a year ago. Much of it was written while Navalny was imprisoned and he was able to smuggle the documents out to his collaborators.
Reid says: “I put this on my list for two reasons. One, I think to illustrate that I think it’s important for us to stay up to date on global current affairs, to stay up to date on what is happening. But secondly, because I listened to the audio version of this memoir and the first adjective I can think of to describe it, surprisingly, perhaps, was uplifting. As he writes, there are such wonderful moments where he never seems to doubt why he’s doing this.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.