After two acclaimed historical novels, one of Canada's most celebrated young writers now gives us the vibrant, contemporary story of a man studying the suddenly confusing shape his life has taken, and why, and what his responsibilities-as a husband, a father, a brother, and an uncle-truly are.
Charlie Bellerose leads a seminomadic existence, traveling widely to manage the language academies he has established in different countries. After separating, somewhat amicably, from his wife, he moves from Madrid back to his native Canada to set up a new school, and for the first time he forges a meaningful relationship with his brother, who's going through a vicious divorce. Charlie's able to make a fresh start in Toronto but longs for his twelve-year-old daughter, whom he sees only via Skype and the occasional overseas visit. After a chance encounter with a girlfriend from his university days, a woman now happily married and with children of her own, he works through a series of memories-including a particularly painful one they share-as he reflects on questions of family, home, fatherhood, and love. But two tragic events (one long past, the other very much in the present) finally threaten to destroy everything he's ever believed in.
Industry Reviews
"With a poet's precision, Dennis Bock limns the inner landscape of a man in crisis, using elegant language to chart the lonely, least-articulated corners of the human heart. . . . From the very first page, one feels the sure hand of a master at work; this is a novel of secrets and lies, of betrayal and murder, a searing emotional portrait that deepens and intensifies to the point of breaking. But Bock's patient confidence as a storyteller, and his light touch, ensure that the novel resists melodrama, even as it refuses to look away. Going Home Again is a graceful lament, an eloquent novel about what can be lost, and what regained: a true testament to the enduring passions of being alive." --Jury Citation for the 2013 Scotiabank Giller Prize shortlist
"Hard to put down. . . . Sad yet hopeful, brisk yet thoughtful, reflecting Bock's generous talents as a storywriter." --The Toronto Star
"A tense, riveting, beautifully layered novel, Going Home Again is an exquisite story of a complex and troubled family. Dennis Bock is a superb writer." --Steven Galloway, author of The Cellist of Sarajevo
"An intimate, controlled examination of traditional and current attempts at defining exactly what home is. . . . It feels good to have Dennis Bock in our corner." --Anniston Star
"Masculine. Wistful. Romantic. . . . [Bock] write[s] so romantically about the very real and ordinary concerns of middle age." --Montreal Gazette
"[A] beautiful and multi-layered novel. . . . The natural, understated elegance of Bock's prose quickly becomes quite addictive." --Winnipeg Free Press
"Excellent, and sensitively written. Going Home Again is a story bound up in complex emotions and subtle character development, sad and yet hopeful with its haunting reminder that we are damned or redeemed by our passions." --Linden MacIntyre, Giller Prize-winning author of The Bishop's Man and Why Men Lie
"Finely crafted, disarmingly casual prose that quietly penetrates the reader's mind and heart." --Kirkus Reviews (starred)
