REVIEW  |  By Archie D'Cruz  »  Just as there is a sense of anticipation in picking up the latest work of a favourite author, there is also the joy of discovery when chancing upon a beautifully-penned book by an emerging star. 

Storyteller, Sherry Isaac's just-released debut collection of shorts, evokes exactly that emotion. Just about every one of the 16 stories in the 216-page book is pitch-perfect, with intriguing lead-offs, characters that come to life, and surprise endings that only serve to whet the appetite for the next story in the collection.

It is a testament to the Halton Hills, Ontario-based author's skill that she not only delivers a compelling read, but does so with a level of artistry many writers can only aspire to. Perhaps that should come as no surprise; though this is her debut collection, she did announce herself to the literary world by scooping the Alice Munro Short Story Award in 2009.

Isaac's stories aren't so much written as crafted, with deliberate phrasing and words painting an imagery so vivid you can almost see the scene being played out in front of you. 

Take this passage, for example, from Storyteller (read extract), a touching tale set in mid-19th century Oshawa. "It was a town like any other. Buckboards and carriages rolled up and down the street, the jingle jangle of harness bells like music. The late June sun warmed the timbers of the raised wooden sidewalk."

And this, from the opening story What You Wish For, which sets the bar high for the rest of the book: "Early morning sunlight streamed through lace curtains, washing the cozy bedroom and Megan’s sleeping face in speckled light."

Short stories, by their very nature, do not easily lend themselves to detailed scene-setting or fleshing out of characters. Isaac nevertheless does well to carve out solid, identifiable protagonists, keeping the plot-lines clean, eschewing the superfluous and maintaining a pace that keeps the pages turning. This is classic, fat-free story-telling that is certain to win Isaac a growing fan base.

Apart from her penchant for surprise endings, the stories are as varied as they come. They run the spectrum in terms of period (the mid 1800s to the present day), location (Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Paris) and style (humorous to poignant). Many of the settings will no doubt make it doubly appealing for Canadian readers; they may also find the characters and finer details easier to identify with, as with the title story where the storyteller journeys from Oshawa through Etobicoke to Streetsville.

Even in a collection as solid as this, there are some gems that stand out: What You Wish For is sealed with a deliciously unexpected twist, Sweet Dreams, the shortest of the stories, is flat-out brilliant and will doubtless win the sympathies of many long-suffering spouses, and A Simple Rendezvous is especially touching because it could so easily have been a true story. 

Isaac however reserves her best for last, finishing with A  Love of Reading and Storyteller, both set in the distant past (Winnipeg, 1926, and Oshawa, 1855, respectively). They are the longest of the stories, and Isaac exploits the extra space well, setting a certain mood, building characters readers will empathize with, and delivering tear-jerkers that demand to be re-read.

All in all, a wonderful debut from a writer we are certain to hear more about.

• Storyteller, by Sherry Isaac, published by In Our Words, 216 pages, price $19.95, available from the author's website www.sherryisaac.com