October

by Richard B. Wright

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.

(From Publisher).

Richard Wright is the author of ten acclaimed novels, including The Age of Longing (nominated for the Governer General's Literary Award and the Giller Prize in 1995), Clara Callan (winner of the Governer General's Literary Award, the Trillium Award and the Giller Prize in 2001), and Adultery (2004). In 2006 Wright was nominated for an International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award

A novel of emotional realism without trite sentimentality. Believable, detached observer, stance of storyteller is poignant.