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list price: $17.99
edition:Paperback
category: Fiction
published: Oct 2000
ISBN:9780864923202
publisher: Goose Lane Editions
imprint: GLE Library

Strange Heaven

by Lynn Coady

tagged: literary
Description

Strange Heaven is tearfully hilarious, as funny and appalling as reality. Bridget Murphy, almost eighteen, has come to Halifax from industrial Cape Breton, had her baby, and given it up for adoption. Transferred to the psych ward of the children's hospital, she's incarcerated with five seriously disturbed teenagers and a flock of wan children. She's depressed, they say. Apathetic. Bridget is a bit detached, but Four South is peaceful compared with the chaos back home. Her grandmother, Margaret P., raves and prays from her bed, banging the wall with her bedpan. Bridget's parents, Robert and Joan, take care of her and her mentally handicapped son, Rollie. Joan tries to keep the lid on, but she's no match for Robert's wild profanity, Margaret's dementia, and Rollie's efforts to join the fray. Uncle Albert, a kind man who saves his eloquent wrath for outsiders, springs Bridget from the hospital for Christmas. But home is more chaotic than ever, and she's sick of her boozy friends and the whining of the baby's father. She had half planned to hibernate at home till kingdom come, but it's become like a lurid movie she saw eons ago and she's forgotten the plot. Her future may be unclear, but she has a good idea of the direction it won't take.

About the Author

Lynn Coady now lives in Edmonton, though she was born and raised in Cape Breton. She has published a collection of short stories, Play the Monster Blind, and four novels. Her first novel, Strange Heaven, was nominated for the 1998 Governor General's Award for Fiction, while her latest novel, The Antagonist, was shortlisted for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize.

Awards
  • Winner, Dartmouth Book Award (Fiction)
  • Winner, Atlantic Independent Booksellers' Choice Award
  • Winner, Canadian Authors' Association Air Canada Award
  • Short-listed, Governor General's Award for Fiction
  • Winner, Thomas Head Raddall Award
Editorial Reviews

"Her work is among the most noteworthy in the country." — The National Post


"Cape Breton humour at its blackest, most profane and politically incorrect best." — The Halifax Chronicle Herald

Out of print

This edition is not currently available in bookstores. Check your local library or search for used copies at Abebooks.

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