Joan Barfoot

Critical Injuries

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Isla and Lyle have been married for just over six years. They are very happy, slotting together as good-humouredly as the jokes made at their wedding on the amusing combination of their names. But Isla and Lyle's relationship is no giggly first romance. Isla is 49 now, Lyle a little older at 52. Not yet at the point of funeral-watching, they are both, nevertheless, showing the inevitable signs of middle-age wear and tear. Isla, in particular, carries with her the legacy of her previous marriage to James, a marriage that ended in a spectacularly distastful fashion. By James she has two children, Alix and Jamie, now young adults. They have suffered the standard adolescent problems, more serious in Jamie's case when he became involved in the drug scene. Isla worked through it, fought through it. A devoted mother but dedicated equally to her career, she has succeeded in turning herself into, as Lyle puts it, 'a productive and energetic member of society'. In the small town she lives, she is now respected and liked, the bad times behind her. Isla has everything to live for. Then enter Roddy: poor, disturbed, 17-year-old Roddy. Nobody respects Roddy or much likes him. Roddy is so inadequate he cannot even execute a pathetic little robbery of the local dairy parlour without bungling it. Isla arrives there to buy ice-cream for a celebration. She just happens to be in the way when Roddy, panicking, fires the gun he never intended to use. The bullet hits Isla, nicking her spine. She is paralysed, perhaps permanently. Hapless and helpless himself, Roddy has made Isla a victim too. From its shocking beginning, this is a novel that cranks up into a multi-layered, wry and perceptive observation of the human condition. Author of Dancing in the Dark, Joan Barfoot once more demonstrates a sure touch in addressing issues most families would rather not think about. (Kirkus UK)

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Catapult
• Seitenzahl: 340
• Erscheinungstermin: 13. Juni 2002
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 222mm x 145mm x 24mm
• Gewicht: 613g
• ISBN-13: 9781582432083
• ISBN-10: 1582432082
• Artikelnr.: 22441360

Autorenporträt

Joan Barfoot is an award-winning novelist whose work has been compared internationally with that of Anne Tyler, Carol Shields, Margaret Drabble and Margaret Atwood. Her novels include Luck, nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, as well as Abra, which won the Books in Canada first novels award, Dancing in the Dark, which became an award-winning Canadian entry in the Cannes and Toronto Film Festivals, among many others. Her 2001 novel, Critical Injuries, was longlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2001 Trillium Book Award. In 1992 she was given the Marian Engel Award. Also a journalist, she lives in London, Ontario, Canada.