To the accompaniment of songs of whales in the Gulf, Clayton reflects on his life, his children now gone and his wife so familiar that he moves into the attic to find the space he needs. It takes a beached whale and the struggle to lessen the animal’s suffering before Clayton begins to gain a new perspective.

The short story collection Poached Egg On Toast showcases Itani’s ability to shine a clear light on what it feels like to be an outsider, displaced and disconnected from the world at hand, and how a single, small moment can cause a seismic shift in our emotional landscape. Wickedly funny and unbearably sad, Itani’s stories leave us with a renewed sense of humanity.

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Besides her two previous books of poetry (No Other Lodgings, Fiddlehead, 1978 and Rentee Bay, Quarry, 1983), Frances Itani has published a children's book and co-authored a book of short stories. More recently, Frances Itani, a Member of the Order of Canada, had a spectacular international debut with her first novel, Deafening, which received a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Book (Canada and Caribbean Region) and was shortlisted for the 2005 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; it was a #1 bestseller in Canada. Her second novel, Remembering The Bones, was shortlisted for a Commonwealth Writers’ Prize. Itani’s short story collection, Poached Egg On Toast, won the 2005 Ottawa Book Award and the 2005 CAA Jubilee Award for Short Stories. Itani lives in Ottawa.

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