Red Dog, Red Dog

An extraordinary novel about family from one of Canada's most acclaimed poets.

An epic novel of unrequited dreams and forestalled lives, Red Dog, Red Dog unfolds over the course of one week in and around a small town in British Columbia, 1958.

Elmer Stark is a violent man with a troubled past.

An epic novel of unrequited dreams and forestalled lives, Red Dog, Red Dog unfolds over the course of one week in and around a small town in British Columbia, 1958.

Elmer Stark is a violent man with a troubled past. Lillian, who married Elmer shortly after the Depression, finds herself retreating steadily into isolation. Their sons, Tom and Eddy, now in their twenties, are bound together by the secrets of their childhood years. As Eddy speeds freely along his reckless path, Tom, a loner, tries to sense from the fragments of the past. Then one night at a party, Eddy goes too far, and a dramatic spiral of events is set in motion.

Here is a novel about hardship and loss, revenge and ancient loyalties, about the sweetness of first love and the power of memory. A richly textured portrait of a time and a place, filled with moments of harrowing violence and breathtaking descriptions of the natural world, Red Dog, Red Dog is a deeply moving novel that explores the legacies of the past and the possibilities of salvation.