Ticknor: A Novel

About this book

A small masterpiece (National Post)An utterly original first novel from a rising international star On a cold rainy night an aging bachelor named George Ticknor prepares to visit his childhood friend Prescott now one of the leading intellectual lights of their generation. Reviewing a life of petty humiliations and his friends brilliant career Ticknor sets out for the dinner partya party at which hed just as soon never arrive. Distantly inspired by the real-life friendship between the great historian William Hickling Prescott and his biographer Ticknor is a witty fantastical study in resentment. It recalls such modern masterpieces of obsession as Thomas Bernhards The Loser and Nicholson Bakers The Mezzanine and announces the arrival of a charming and original novelist one whose stories have already earned her a passionate international following. A perceptive act of ventriloquism Ticknor rewards thought and rereading and offers a finely cadenced voice intelligence and . . . moody beauty. Catherine Bush The Globe and Mail Confoundedly strange and fascinating. Nicholas Dinka Quill & Quire