The Last Half of the Year explores the age-old interplay between innocence and experience in a dramatic new way.

Jason Dade, a deeply sensitive and strangely ambitious young man, leaves home in July on a mock-heroic quest to find himself and become the man he is meant to be. The novel moves forward through a series of interconnecting narratives linking Jason's childhood and early adolescence to this quixotic present-day journey. Jason's untainted idealism and reckless innocence lead him into a series of humorous and sometimes harrowing situations. Past and present life experiences of Saul Dade, Jason's father, are also deftly woven into the intricate narrative. The son, frantically on the road, the father, meditatively at home, seem mystically connected through space and time as each in his own way stumbles blindly toward a conception of happiness and fulfillment.

Paul Rowe is an actor and writer who lives in St. John's. His first novel The Silent Time, published in 2007 by Creative Book Publishing was inspired by his mother's experience as a deaf child growing up and being educated in early 20th century Newfoundland. The Silent Time was short-listed for the Winterset Award, the Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage and History Award, and long-listed for the Re-Lit Awards. His first feature-length drama To Dare Mighty Things was produced by Rising Tide Theatre in 2003. During the summer of 2010 Paul performed in his own stage adaptation of The Silent Time at Rising Tide Theatre's Trinity Festival. He was also a founding member of Teatro, Newfoundland's only French language theatre company. He has performed with the Resource Centre for the Arts, Tramore Theatre Company, Perchance, Artistic Fraud and, in 2015, with the Stratford Festival of Canada.

Paul Rowe's profile page

• Winner, BMO Winterset Award