October

From the author of the bestselling Adultery ... A haunting coming-of-age story set in World War II Quebec and a contemporary portrait of a man still searching for answers ... In England to see his daughter, Susan, who is gravely ill, James Hillyer, a retired professor of Victorian literature, encounters by chance a man he once knew as a boy. Gabriel Fontaine, a rich and attractive American he met one summer holiday during the war, is a mercurial figure, badly crippled by polio. As an adolescent, James was both attracted to and repelled by Gabriel's cocksure attitude and charm. He also fell hopelessly in love with Odette, a French-Canadian girl from the village, only to find himself in competition with the careless Gabriel. Now, at this random meeting over six decades later - as he struggles with the terrible possibility that he could outlive his own daughter - James is asked by Gabriel to accompany him on a final, unthinkable journey. At last, James begins to see that all beginnings and endings are inexorably linked. 'a compact, spare masterpiece ... October has the haunting beauty of a chamber piece, played with the softest of touches, every note perfect' Edmonton Journal 'October is a gently persuasive novel, solidly grounded in human observation, propelled by character, imbued with wisdom' Montreal Gazette 'wonderfully subtle ... inexpressibly precious' the Globe and Mail