“What consistently directs my work is the energy of the characters”, says Guy Vanderhaeghe. “Once I have a sense of what “they want” and give them a push down the path of pursuing it I let them lead me. I believe themes (a word I’m highly suspicious of) are not a blueprint for fiction but something that emerges out of the writer’s imagined world. You discover what you’re writing about only by writing it.” 

Guy was born in Esterhazy, Saskatchewan, and the prairies are a regular character in his works. His novels include A Good Man, The Last Crossing, The Englishman’s Boy, Homesick, My Present Age, and the short story collections Things as They Are andMan Descending. Among the many awards he has received are three Governor General’s Awards, The Pierre Elliot Trudeau Fellowship, the Writers’ Trust Timothy Findley Award, the Harbourfront Literary Prize, and the Order of Canada. 

This Fall Guy is back with his first novel in nearly a decade, an epic story of crime and retribution, love and redemption. Set in a small prairie town in 1939, August into Winterfinds the world on the brink of global war, when Constable Hotchkiss confronts the spoiled, narcissistic man-child Ernie Sickert about a rash of disturbing pranks that soon take a serious turn. Praise for his writing is not hard to find – Timothy Findley described his books as “a wonder and a glory – written by a man who has plundered the language for all its treasures”, and Maclean’s called The Englishman’s Boy “one of the finest historical novels ever written by a Canadian.” 

Guy is supported by Author Patron Virgina Gordon & Lynne Kenny.

Book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/537299/august-into-winter-by-guy-vanderhaeghe/9780771070556

Appearing in:
16. The Long Shadow of War