WELCOME TO LORAINE FOWLOW WRITER
writer
educator
architect
engineer
lover of books, buildings & bunnies
(also, alliteration)
current work
THE HOTEL DOESN'T TAKE CANARIES
A Memoir of Surviving a Narcissist Mother
I was twenty-three when I finally got married. It wasn’t cold feet that’d postponed the wedding by a year. It was because my mother couldn’t cope with me leaving home. At the wedding she was on tranquilizers and had a friend staying with her for two weeks to survive the ordeal. Then I was replaced by a Pekingese puppy that my mother fed to death. Out of love.
That’s what our relationship was like. I was optimistic and ready to please. My mother was narcissistic and never could be pleased. The Hotel Doesn’t Take Canaries is a memoir about living with and surviving the emotional abuse inflicted by a narcissistic mother. It’s also about thriving and forging a life anyway.
The book will appeal to readers who benefited from Molly Jong-Fast’s How to Lose Your Mother: a Daughter’s Memoir, and Jenette McCurdy’s I’m Glad My Mom Died.
OVERLOAD
An Architectural Mystery
Engineer and architect Ruby Foster’s first experience teaching architecture studio is a disaster – literally. A campus walkway collapses during its unveiling, killing and injuring dozens, including six of her students. When she accidentally discovers a telling clue, Ruby sets out to solve the mystery of the collapse. But an accusation of sexual abuse threatens to end her academic career – and possibly take her freedom. With a little help from an unexpected source, Ruby ends up uncovering a revenge plot risen from the ashes of a tragic past.
2025 Longlist - Best Unpublished Crime Manuscript
Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence
previous work
selected
Tourism Revisited: International Colloquium on Architecture and Cities
# 2
La Lettre Volee, Brussels, 2007
Travels in Authenticity: an Examination of the Cultural Reality of Two Orlando Theme Parks
Loraine Fowlow, Victoria Baster;
pp. 153-168
Canadian Architect
June 2015
Inaccessible Access
Loraine Fowlow, p. 30
The Endless End, European Academy of Design 9th Conference Proceedings
2011
Lessons From the Road: Meaning and Community Identity Examined Through the Lens of the Roadside Attraction
Loraine Fowlow, C. Hillman-Healey,
WINE BY DESIGN
Sean Stanwick, Loraine Fowlow
Academy Editions, Wiley
2005, 2010
Gao Deng Liao Yu Chu Ban She (Chinese Edition)
2008
The Design Journal, Volume 4, Issue 2.
Ashgate Publishing, U.K., 2001
Living With Mickey: In Search of the Boundaries of the Theme Park
Loraine Fowlow, pp. 20-29
Canadian Architect
August 2014
Premium Parking
Loraine Fowlow, p. 34
Architectural Design (AD)
March/April 2007
The Tailored Home: Housebrand
Loraine Fowlow, 60-68
bio
I’m a recovering professor of architecture who has been rediscovering my love of writing through work on a memoir as part of an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the University of King's College.
My fictional interest lies in the criminal use of collapsing buildings, with the first in a series, Overload, currently underway.
Previous degrees include a bachelor’s in Civil Engineering and a Master’s in Architecture, both from the University of Calgary.
I enjoy living next to the woods on the western edge of Calgary with my family, two cats and two bunnies. As a former glider pilot, I also scan the sky for good lift, the jet stream, and storms.
Get in Touch
I love talking with readers, writers, and all book lovers. If you have any questions or thoughts about my work, please drop me a line!