Distance by Jack Hodgins

• Vancouver Public Library,Canada

Sonny Aalto, a restless middle-aged businessman, has spent his life running away from those closest to him. When his estranged, larger-than-life father, Timo, becomes too sick to care for himself, Sonny reluctantly returns to his childhood home of Vancouver Island, where he learns his father is not only dying but wants to die on his own terms - with Sonny's help. But before facing the gravity of what's ahead, the two embark on a journey to Australia, in search of a woman from their past, and over the course of the next few months their adventures will reveal difficult truths about fathers and sons, about families, about how we live and how we die - and about the good and bad things that distance can sometimes provide.
Distance is a rich blend of tragedy and comedy, wise and irreverent, deeply moving, with vivid settings ranging from the frozen banks of Ottawa's Rideau Canal to the lushness of Vancouver Island, from the bustle of downtown Sydney to the sun-baked desolation of the Queensland outback.

Jack Hodgins was born and raised on Vancouver Island. He taught Creative Writing at a number of Canadian universities, and retired from the University of Victoria in 2002. He is the author of seven novels, including The Invention of the World, The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne, winner of the Governor General's Award, and Broken Ground, winner of the Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction, and three books of short stories, Spit Delaney's Island, The Barclay Family Theatre and Damage Done by the Storm. He is also the author of A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction. Hodgins has been awarded the Canada-Australia Prize, among many others, has received three honorary degrees, and has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.