Run by Karen Morton, the eccentric, sex-fantasy-prone mother in a hilarious yet deeply troubled dysfunctional family in North Vancouver, the Footstop Cafe is a place to put your feet up near the beautiful but tragedy-plagued Lynn Canyon and its vertigo-inspiring footbridge. The canyon and the cafe serve as the nexus around which Karen’s universe revolves. Things happen here. Amazing things.

Karen’s husband is a podiatrist with a foot fetish, her teenage daughter thinks she’s a lesbian but is afraid to confront the reality, and her younger son is given to having bowel movements in closets and building bombs. Throw in Karen’s unconventional Anglican minister father and his Tibetan wife, a hairy belly dancer named Moey, a randy virgin high school diver with Olympic ambitions, and a host of other quirky, unforgettable characters and you have a debut novel that is at turns absurdist, touching, manic, and supremely irreverent.

Paulette Crosse has published fiction in various Canadian magazines and was nominated for an Aurora Award in 22. She publishes fantasy fiction under her real name, Janine Cross. Touched by Venom, the first novel in her Dragon Temple Saga (published by Roc), was one of Library Journal's Five Best SF & Fantasy Books of 25. She lives in North Vancouver, British Columbia.

Paulette Crosse's profile page

... really touching story which is mainly due to lovingly-crafted characters. If Douglas Coupland was a woman, he might have written this novel, which is a combination of "Generation X" and "Bridge to Terabithia" if the characters grew up ...Once you get past the first few pages and start to care about these characters, you won't be able to put "The Footstop Cafdown. You might even want to go to Vancouver and search for a real-life Footstop Caf

Lethbridge Herald, The

"Crosse writes in a refreshingly straightforward way and makes no apologies for the bizarre plot twists and character ties in her novel."

Cassandra