Demoralized by his job and dissatisfied with his life, Mark punches the clock with increasing indifference. He wanted to help people; he’d always believed that as social worker he would be able to make a difference in people’s lives. But after six years of bureaucracy and pushing paper Mark has lost hope. All that changes when he meets Bumi, an Indonesian restaurant worker. Moved from his small fishing village and sent to a residential school under the authoritarian Suharto regime, Bumi’s radical genius and obsessive-compulsive disorder raise suspicion among his paranoid neighbours. When several local children die mysteriously the neighbours fear reaches a fevered pitch and Bumi is forced to flee to Canada. Brought together by a chance encounter on the subway, Mark and Bumi develop a friendship that forces them to confront their pasts. Moving gracefully between Canada and Indonesia and through the two men’s histories, Drive-by Saviours is the story of desire and connection among lonely people adrift in a crowded world.

Chris is author of Eco-Innovators: Sustainability in Atlantic Canada, winner of the Best Atlantic-Published Book Award and finalist for the Richardson Non-Fiction Prize, and the novel, Drive-by Saviours, which was longlisted for Canada Reads and a ReLit Prize. Chris’ creative work has been published by VoicePrint Canada, Descant, Arts East, Third Person Press, Nashwaak Review, Pottersfield Press, Fierce Ink Press, Rattling Books, The Society and The Coast. Visit www.chrisbenjaminwriting.com. He owes a debt to St. Lucia for changing his life for the better.

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