Weaving together five heartbreaking stories, Bill Gaston transforms the cruelty of life into something not only beautiful but heartwarming. A recently divorced, early retiree accidentally burns down his house on the day he pays off the mortgage, only to discover that for the first time in his life he’s forgotten to pay a bill: his insurance premium. An old friend of his, a middle-aged musician, prepares for her suicide to end the pain of esophageal cancer. Her father, who left his family to study Buddhism in Tibet, ends his days in a Toronto facility for Alzheimer’s patients. The three are tied together not only by their bonds of affection, but by a book called The World, written by the old man in his youth. The book, possibly biographical, tells the story of a historian who unearths a cache of letters, written in Chinese, in an abandoned leper colony off the coast of Victoria. He and the young Chinese translator fall in love, only to betray each other in the cruellest way possible, each violating what the other reveres most.
"A hugely skilled storyteller." -Georgia Straight
"The World is perhaps Bill Gaston's greatest work, and Bill Gaston is one of our greatest writers." -David Adams Richards
BILL GASTON is the author of seven novels and seven collections of short fiction, as well as a book of poems and a memoir, Midnight Hockey. His fiction has been shortlisted for the Giller Prize, and twice for the Governor General's Award. His most recent novel, The World, won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. He lives in Victoria, B.C.
View titles by Bill Gaston
Weaving together five heartbreaking stories, Bill Gaston transforms the cruelty of life into something not only beautiful but heartwarming. A recently divorced, early retiree accidentally burns down his house on the day he pays off the mortgage, only to discover that for the first time in his life he’s forgotten to pay a bill: his insurance premium. An old friend of his, a middle-aged musician, prepares for her suicide to end the pain of esophageal cancer. Her father, who left his family to study Buddhism in Tibet, ends his days in a Toronto facility for Alzheimer’s patients. The three are tied together not only by their bonds of affection, but by a book called The World, written by the old man in his youth. The book, possibly biographical, tells the story of a historian who unearths a cache of letters, written in Chinese, in an abandoned leper colony off the coast of Victoria. He and the young Chinese translator fall in love, only to betray each other in the cruellest way possible, each violating what the other reveres most.
Reviews
"A hugely skilled storyteller." -Georgia Straight
"The World is perhaps Bill Gaston's greatest work, and Bill Gaston is one of our greatest writers." -David Adams Richards
BILL GASTON is the author of seven novels and seven collections of short fiction, as well as a book of poems and a memoir, Midnight Hockey. His fiction has been shortlisted for the Giller Prize, and twice for the Governor General's Award. His most recent novel, The World, won the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize. He lives in Victoria, B.C.
View titles by Bill Gaston
