Bøger af Alan Cumyn

After surviving a terrifying ordeal at the hands of terrorists in the South Pacific island of Santa Irene, Bill Burridge returns home to Ottawa and casts himself single-mindedly into building a human-rights organization to stand watch over the world's most troubled areas. Yet, plagued by memories of his incarceration and by the strain of his disintegrating marriage, he is a man struggling to hold his life together. When a democratic revolution stands Santa Irene on a knife-edge between chaos and healing, Burridge reluctantly agrees to serve on a Truth Commission there to investigate past atrocities. Taut, intelligent, and written in the compelling, often sardonic voice of Bill Burridge, Cumyn's gripping novel immerses us in a shadowy world of betrayals and shifting loyalties, and reveals the intricate, rejuvenating bonds of human relationships. Bill Burridge's voice is infectious, his story a remarkable one as the novel builds to its climactic final scenes.

The Skye brothers -- skinny, quiet, big-eared Owen and his smart older brother Andy -- live in a rural village with their parents and weird Uncle Lorne, a shy bachelor who sleeps on a cot in the basement and takes out his teeth at night. On his way home from hockey practice one evening, Owen catches a glimpse of a girl named Sylvia. He falls hopelessly in love, and Valentine's Day turns into one big disaster. Thank goodness for life at home, where there's a brother to talk to and plot adventures with. Yet the Skye boys somehow manage to turn every innocent plan into a full-scale ordeal. A search for a hammer turns into a brush with the deadly Bog Man, a midnight visit to the snow fort to meet with aliens becomes a near-death experience. This funny, magical novel celebrates the everyday joys and drama of being a kid and, especially, being a boy. Owen's small-town childhood may be simple, but his days are rich indeed as he ponders the secret mysteries of death, life, and love.

"The rooftop was where my father was the most comfortable, where he could be tall and survey life among the quiet chimneys, the broken shingles, the weathered skin of protection between families and the sky." Between Families and the Sky is a two-part novel about love in all its mysterious forms. "The Hole in the Kitchen Floor" tells the story of James Kinnell's teenage years -- his grandfather's permanent visit, his mother's new romance after his father's death, and especially his kaleidoscopic feelings for his friend Mirele. In "The Memory Holes of Garland Rose," a young architect replays scenes from a childhood shaped by the death of her mother, her father's fixation on golf, and the sexual heat between her father and her teacher. As Alan Cumyn draws these searchers together, he creates extended families of complex, loving and eccentric people whose lives dovetail into a rich and satisfying resolution.