Book description
Originally published in 1962, The Silence on the Shore is
considered by many critics to be Hugh Garners best, most ambitious
novel. Truly, in the person of Grace Hill, the landlady of the Toronto
rooming house where most of the books events take place, Garner has
created a fictional character never to be forgotten. Grace is a
middle-aged snoop and an overweight nudist whose sexual release comes
from watching wrestling matches at a hockey arena that is a thinly
disguised Maple Leaf Gardens.
Around Grace orbit her various boarders: alcoholic Gordon Lightfoot;
Walter Fowler, an aspiring writer whose marriage has just broken up;
Aline Garfield, a fundamentalist Christian grappling with various
urges and torments; a Polish refugee woman; and a colourful cast of
others whose lives intersect in drama that arises from arbitrary or
coincidental encounters.
According to scholar John Moss, the book is the best realistic novel
of Canadian city life yet to be written.
Hugh Garner (1913-1979) immigrated to Canada in 1919, settling in
Toronto. His most famous novel is
Cabbagetown
, released in its entirety in 1968. In 1963 he won the Governor
General's Award for
Hugh Garner's Best Stories
.
George Fetherling is a poet, fiction writer, and voyager. Among his
many books are
Travels by Night: A Memoir of the Sixties
and
Running Away to Sea: Round the World on a Tramp Freighter
. He lives in Vancouver.
