Matthew Thomas, New York Times—bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves, calls Stranger “a work of genius. . . . [Bergen] is one of our living greats.”

National bestseller, longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize

The gripping novel from David Bergen, the Giller Prize—winning author of The Time in Between and a CBC Canada Reads finalist for The Age of Hope

Compelling and timely, the Toronto Star declares Stranger “an engrossing human exploration of displacement and inequality. . . . Bergen paints a dire reality that isn’t far off from the current state of affairs in the United States. Stranger feels like a caution, warning of the dangers of continued disunity and the growing rift from inequality.”

The reader sees the world through the eyes of Íso, a young Guatemalan woman who works at a fertility clinic in the highlands of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas and is the secret lover of the married American resident doctor. But their tryst is short-lived, and he disappears back to the US before Íso can disclose her pregnancy. After the birth of her daughter, the baby is taken from her and Íso is informed that her child is in America. She makes her way north, eventually crossing illegally into a United States that has become increasingly divided between rich and poor. Travelling without documentation and with little money, Íso descends into a world full of danger and mistrust, determined to reclaim her child.

With its themes of dislocation and disruption, of power and vulnerability, Stranger is a powerfully resonant political novel for our times.

DAVID BERGEN is an award-winning author of seven previous novels and a collection of short stories. A Year Of Lesser was a New York Times Notable Book, and The Case of Lena S. was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Fiction. In 2005, Bergen won the Giller Prize for The Time in Between. His sixth novel, The Matter With Morris, was shortlisted for the Giller Prize in 2010, won the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. The Age Of Hope was a #1 bestseller and a finalist for Canada Reads 2013. Bergen lives with his family in Winnipeg.

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“The gorgeous lyricism of David Bergen’s latest novel recalls the atmosphere of Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea.” — Maclean's

“Stranger is an engrossing human exploration of displacement and inequality. . . . Bergen paints a dire reality that isn’t far off from the current state of affairs in the United States. Stranger feels like a caution, warning of the dangers of continued disunity and the growing rift from inequality” — Toronto Star

“Inventive and electrifying. . . . Skilled and gutsy. . . . Brilliant and utterly convincing. . . . [Stranger] reminds us that even in the best-known stories, something unexpected is always lurking, if you go deep enough.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto)

“David Bergen has written arguably his best novel. . . . The book manages the rare feat of being profound and important but at the same time absolutely gripping.” — Quill & Quire

“Leaving Tomorrow is a contemplative novel full of the hope that comes with youth, but in the end it becomes clear that like life, the journey is the real destination.” — Toronto Star

“Leaving Tomorrow is pure pleasure. It doesn’t parade its wit or its wisdom but is a sensitive, perceptive and disarmingly honest bildungsroman which deserves to take its place alongside such mid-western Canadian classics as Who Has Seen the Wind and A Complicated Kindness.” — The Globe and Mail

“This is a moving and engaging novel of grief and loss, impeccably written and fully imagined.” — Toronto Star

“At once grand and intimate, Stranger is an epic story with a very human heart.” — Rachel Giese, Chatelaine

“. . . an intriguing synthesis of Bergen’s previous works, blending the earlier novels’ focus on the suppressed lusts, rivalries, and consolations that underpin family and community with the broader, more topical concerns of The Retreat and The Time in Between.” — Quill & Quire

“breathtaking . . . a work of genius” — Matthew Thomas, New York Times-bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves

“Inventive and electrifying. . . . It takes a skilled and gutsy writer to so clearly overlay ancient frames with an item you might hear in passing on the news. That’s Bergen. He’s known for his clean prose and wonderful, startling observations, and this book has perfect pitch.” — Globe and Mail (Toronto)

“David Bergen is a writer with perfect instinct for the old traditions of epic storytelling, and also for intricate observation of how people operate, and why they do what they do . . . Novels as good as this come around rarely—a few in a lifetime.” — Samantha Harvey, author of Dear Thief