The World
Sep 2012 · Sold by Penguin Canada
4.0star
1 review
Ebook
288
Pages
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About this ebook
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.
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4.0
1 review
About the author
Bill Gaston is a Canadian novelist, short-story writer, and playwright. He currently teaches creative writing at the University of Victoria. Previously, he served as director of the creative writing program at the University of New Brunswick and as editor of The Fiddlehead.
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