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Fiction Literary

White Elephant

by (author) Catherine Cooper

Publisher
Freehand Books
Initial publish date
May 2016
Category
Literary
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781554813032
    Publish Date
    May 2016
    List Price
    $21.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781460405826
    Publish Date
    May 2016
    List Price
    $10.99

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Description

Finalist for the 2017 Amazon First Novel Award

Physician Richard Berringer, his wife, Ann, and their thirteen-year-old son, Torquil, have abandoned their home in Nova Scotia and moved to Sierra Leone, despite warnings that the West African country is in a civil war. Two months on, things are not going well. Tensions are rising between Richard and his boss; Torquil—who hates Sierra Leone almost as much as he hates his father—has launched a hunger strike; and Ann is bedridden with illnesses that Richard believes are all in her head. While the Berringers battle with themselves, each other and the worlds they inhabit, the narrative repeatedly returns to their past, shedding light on what brought them together, what keeps them together, why they have come to Africa, and why they might not be able to go home again.

About the author

Catherine Cooper is a Nova Scotian writer with a Masters degree in English Literature and Creative Writing from Concordia University. Her fiction and non-fiction has been published most recently in Brick Magazine and Guernica Magazine. Her first book, The Western Home: Stories for Home on the Range, is a collection of short stories was published by Pedlar Press in 2014. White Elephant is her first novel. She lives in Prague, Czech Republic.

Catherine Cooper's profile page

Awards

  • Short-listed, Amazon.ca First Novel Award

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