It is the year 2004 and the first human expedition to Mars is under way. Matthew Goderich watches the spaceship that holds his son John on board as it becomes a tiny dot in the sky, gradulaly clearing Earth's atmosphere and breaking free of gravity.

From Mars to the art world to corporate finance, Hugh Hood skillfully presents the penultimate book in his ambitious and highly acclaimed twelve-volume series, The New Age/Le Nouveau siecle, which poignantly animates the social fabric of Canada in the latter part of the twentieth century and beyond.

Hugh Hood was born in Toronto in 1928 and studied at the University of Toronto, where he completed his Ph.D. in 1955. He worked as a university teacher for over forty years -- over thirty of those years spent at the Universit? de Montr?al. He was married to painter and printmaker Noreen Mallory and had four children. He died in Montreal in August of 2000.

Hood wrote 32 books, amongst them novels, collections of stories and essays, an art book, and a book of sports journalism. His most extended project, begun in 1975 and occupying him right up until the time of his death, was a twelve volume roman fleuve entitled The New Age / Le nouveau si?cle. The last book in this series, Near Water, was published by Anansi in 2000.

Hugh Hood's profile page