Book Description
Lust. Infidelity. Betrayal. Murder.

On a summer evening in Stratford, Ontario, the errant thrust of agardener's spade slices a telephone cable into instant silence. The resulting disconnection is devastating. With the failure of one call to reach a house, an ambitious young actor becomes the victim of sexual blackmail. The blocking of a second call leads tragically to murder. And when a Bell Canada repairman arrives to mend the broken line, his innocent yet irresistible male beauty has explosive consequences.

In Spadework, Timothy Findley, master storyteller and playwright, has created an electric wordplay of infidelity and morality set on the stage of Canada's preeminent theater town. In this fictional portrait, intrigue, passion, and ambition are always waiting in the wings. Findley peoples the town with theater folk, artists, writers, and visitors (both welcome and unwelcome), and with lives that are immediately recognizable as "Findley-esque" -- the lonely, the dispossessed, and the sexually troubled.

A story that ripples with ever-widening repercussions, a sensual, witty, and completely absorbing novel, Spadework is another Timothy Findley winner.

Customer Reviews (12)

Spadework - Bury this book
This novel is to books what "Plan 9 From Outer Space" is to movies.So laughably bad, the only thing that kept me reading it was the wonder that the author could go on for so long and be so consistantly terrible in his writing. I'm not going to reprise the plot, but here's a little background and an example.The main character, Jane, flees from her controlling and straight-laced Southern lady of a mother. When she announces her intention to leave the mother replies (and so help-me-God this is a quote), "...You don' just stan' up an' walk away f'm Cloud Hill.F'm family.You just don' do that.All them years o' history..." It goes on like this, but I'll spare you reading the rest.Real believable dialogue from well-mannered Southern lady isn't it?That's just a small example.The dialogue in this book is all pretty horrible, and the descriptions of conversations only make it worse.People will be having an argument, then suddenly "beam" at each other.The act of opening bottles of wine should really be thought of as a main character it happens so often and with such over-blown description.None of the interaction of any of the characters is believable, in fact, they are so odd there is a kind of sick fascination to reading this as you have never, will never, know people who react or talk like Mr. Findlay's characters.This book is billed as a "National Bestseller".The only plausible explanation I can think of is; (a) Guam is suddenly declared a sovereign nation (b) a shipment of these books is mistakenly shipped to Guam (c) a bookseller on Guam unfortunately sells 3 of these books and is subsequently lynched.A far-fetched scenario you think?Good Lord, let's hope Timothy Findlay doesn't read this review as he would probably think it was a reasonable plot line and explore it for an excruciating number of pages.

Love under pressure in what it's all about.....
Timothy Findley's "Spadework" doesn't conform to any specific type or genre in literary fiction. To begin with, it's most certainly not a murder mystery or thriller the blurb suggests it is - Penguin Books, its UK publisher, should be rapped for being misleading. So, what kind of book is it ? A tale of marital breakdown, lust and ambition among members of a theatrical community in Ontario ? Hard to say.

But love - all sorts of love - takes centre stage in "Spadework". There's conjugal love between struggling stage actor Griffin Kincaid and his prop designer wife Jane, love between parent and child (as between the Kincaids and their son Will), love between family members (as between gardener Luke and his young troubled uncle Jesse), homosexual love or lust of stage director Jonathan for Griffin, mature love between housekeeper Mercy and Luke, and Jane's idealised love for the Bell repairman Milos.According to Findley, love caves in under pressure, its manifest qualities change albeit temporarily.Like an elastic band, it finds its original shape eventually.

Findley's characterisation doesn't always succeed. His supporting characters like Mercy, Luke, Milos and Claire fare much better than his protagonists. With each page, I found Jane increasingly shrill and irritating and I began to feel she deserves what's happening to her.....until Milos turns up and she wanders into a dream world of her own and becomes interesting as a human being once again. Griffin's character is the most problematic. He's supposed to be desperate and ambitious and his sudden abandonment of his family for Jonathan's casting couch is a move that suggests he has sold his soul to the devil - remember Rosemary's husband in "Rosemary's Baby" ? - but in truth, he's a wimp and his return to the family fold after Jonathan's confessional is a bizarre twist that strains credibility and ends the story on a hastily executed feel-good note.

Quite apart from revealing his roots as a playwright, Findley's liberal use of asides and self directed utterances to punctuate his narrative is also a devise that doesn't quite work. Indeed, I found it unhelpful and distracting and gives the novel an incongruous feel about it. There is nevertheless much to enjoy in "Spadework". The good parts are excellent and they'll make it all worthwhile for you.

Not even bad enough to be good
I have read good reviews of this book and the only thing to conclude is that there's so little good writing coming out of Canada that anyone who can actually spell is considered a genius.

This so-called novel is full of bizarre, unbelievable people who are supposed to be all connected but aren't.There are about three separate storylines running through the pages and the only thing they have in common is that the characters know each other.

The whole mess is really a screenplay with no character development, no plot, no suspense and no thought.What it has, though, is a lot of hand mannerisms for the director to use when filming starts.Cigarettes are lit--excuse me, "lighted"--and bottles of wine are uncorked, with grim and relentless monotony.The ending is a montage of saccharine resolutions that belies everything that the author himself put in place.

The main character, Jane Kincaid, has supposedly fled her repressive Southern upbringing to get as far north as possible, ie. Toronto (right).You don't believe a word of it.Her mother is a foolish caricature of the psychotic Southern matriarch. Her husband is either straight or gay, but not even the author knows.They have a few sketchy friends, a housekeeper, a kid and a dog. They all drink and smoke and wring their hands, then the book ends.

Oh yes, keep a look out for bizarre appearance of Troy, Jane's old boyfriend.This has got to be the most useless and inane thing ever written in the history of the world.I finished the book last week and I still haven't figured out what the hell purpose he served.

Jackie Collins writes trash that's so bad it's fun to read.Timothy Findley writes trash that's leaden, pretentious, and no fun at all.Why does he get all the respect?I wanted to give this thing no stars, but one is the minimun.Sorry about that.

Canadian Goodness
Griffin Kincaid gets involved with another man, while his wife Jane becomes obsessed with the telephone repairman. Loved this book, especially the scenes with Milos Saworski. (A+)

Easy, readable novel from Findley
The Kincaid family lives a superficially contented, easy life revolving around the theatre in Stratford until one day their gardener slices their phone cable, some vital calls are missed, and their lives begin to unravel.

A very readable, suspenseful novel, a bit different from what I'm used to from Findley.I'm a big Findley fan, but this is not my absolute favourite of his... and Findley himself called it his "slightest book," although I'm not sure I'd go that far.It still goes to say that this is a really great book with believable characters and a complicated plot with common but complex themes.It may even make you question your own character and what events it would take to make you break away from what you think is most important in your life.

Note also that anyone who's ever been to Stratford, Ontario, will recognize a lot of landmarks and even people in this story! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (36)

Please read this review before buying 'The Wars'.
I am surprised at the reviews of this novel. I see some people claiming to have literally burned this book and I see a `teacher' who condemns a Governor General's Award winning novel without the courtesy of proper punctuation or even capital letters (on Amazon.ca). And I see people claiming that this novel is the greatest ever produced by a Canadian. The truth is somewhere in between. But make no mistake: it is a classic for good reason.

Anger comes from confusion so it is no surprise to see many angry people reacting to `The Wars'. It is a difficult read. Robert Ross is a difficult character to identify with because Findley holds him at arm's length for almost the entire novel. The only instances I remember where the reader is given direct access to Robert's innermost thoughts are in the opening section, before he enlists in the army. From there we are shown his actions and only the most obvious of thoughts. Much of the novel is presented as hearsay,where the reader sees the toll the war takes on both his family and personal life, and this is perhaps the reason for the negative reviews here: the reader cannot become attached to Robert Ross. Findley does not present empathy as an option. We are forced to examine his actions coolly with little emotion involved save the horror of killing or the pleasure of love. What does this say about Findley's goal with this novel? Why does he not allow us to be close to Robert Ross? Because he is not a hero. He is not a great man. He was the average soldier (or officer, in this case) and his trials were average for the Great War.

This is a novel about World War One written sixty years (or so) after the armistice, and we are now approaching its one hundred year anniversary. So why do readers think it should be a rip roaring adventure of bravery and heroism? Wake up people. It is a novel about the legacy the war has left. It is about how we were and are affected by it and that is why it is written from the point of view or a reseacher/historian. It is about darkness and savagery and how these things are in all of us, only to be revealed by the horrors we subject each other to. Look at the things Robert has to deal with within his own army. Are the Germans the `bad guys' in this novel? We only ever see one, and he shows great humanity and sacrifice. Robert's own army wreaks as much destruction and havoc in the lives of their own soldiers as they do to the Germans. It is not a heroic tale of Us versus Them. It is a cautionary tale of Us vs. Ourselves.

Do not expect `Saving Private Ryan'. Expect `Apocalypse Now'. Do not expect a page turner. Expect a meditation on humanity's darkest hour, and you will not be disappointed. This is a novel to be read by the intelligent and the brave, not the simple and arrogant. Approach it with the right mindset and you will find a classic.

One of the best
One of the best what? One of the best Canadian novels, one of the best war novels . . . take your pick.

Joeseph Jonston must only like stories where there are only good people doing nice things, and where children are sheltered from the scary fact that sometimes the world is a bad place. I think this is the problem when you have a work of art as powerful and brilliant as The Wars --- it gets assigned in high schools, and people who wouldn't know a good book from a hole in the ground are made to read it.

The Wars examines the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual wages of World War One (I think the plural in the title references the fact that there are so many other "little" wars simultaneously going on within the main character, within his family, within society, etc).

Findley explores his themes with powerful, poetic, and concise prose. The Wars is a short book, and Findley's fluid style means it can be read quickly. However, not a single word is wasted. The prose is rich with fresh imagery, but those images are never just decoration, or descriptive showmanshp --- they all have their purpose and their place. This is one of the calling cards of a great writer.

Some would say the age warning is appropriate. Some of the events of the plot and some of the images are indeed explicitly violent or sexual. They are never gratuitous, and are used to drive home the horror of World War One, but the more squeemish or puritanical readers may find them off-putting.

Total Garbage! and not for kids
This book was a total waste of my time. The plot was bad, and there was something bad about almost every character. What was this guy thinking. If there were negative stars, this book would be -5. And seeing that kids were reading this, I'm getting a Nauseous feeling. Too many issues. And what Idiot would rank this book at even 2 stars never mind 5. This piece of $h!t isn't worth anyones time.

the characters and relationship of mr. and mrs. ross
characters relationship, describe the relationship ofmr. and mrs ross, is there any details of their courship, what is the insight into their relationship?

One of the Greatest Canadian Novels
Timothy Findley's The Wars is an achievement that goes far beyond words. The captivitating, thrilling, exciting and shocking twists he puts on this novel are insurpassable. After reading this novel, I got the impression of just how magnificent a writer Findley is. He uses many forms of literary structure to create this remarkable piece of work and when you finish reading it, you are left breathless. The plot line is magnificent, and it's perhaps the greatest war story ever written. The deep analysis of characters and examination of warfare go far beyond anybodys' expectations.

Highly recommmended to anyone who loves reading. ... Read more

Amazon.com
Timothy Findley's Pilgrim is the story of a man who can't die even though he tries over and over to kill himself. Diagnosed as schizophrenic, in 1912 he's placed in a Zurich clinic where Carl Gustav Jung is hard as work trying to determine the perimeter of the collective unconscious. For Jung, this man becomes an embodiment of the psyche's mystery. Claiming to have no past history but to have simply arrived one day at consciousness, Pilgrim lives in a limbo outside individuality and subjectivity. He's everyone and no one. Is he a messenger? Or is he a basket case? As the novel gathers momentum, we realize that Pilgrim is a character much like Virginia Woolf's Orlando, traversing gender and time, a witness. But whereas Woolf is a feverish and emotional writer, Findley is philosophical and dry, playful and slightly pretentious. Imagining conversations between Pilgrim and Henry James, Leonardo da Vinci, and Oscar Wilde, this novel is like a party full of beautiful guests. Or a safe train trip through an exotic landscape of consciousness where men use cologne that smells like "moss... lemons... ferns" and schizophrenics are elegant and well dressed, like the old countess who believes she lives on themoon and asks her doctor, "Is this a ballroom? Am I being courted?" --Emily WhiteBook Description
"I have lived many times, Doctor Jung. Who knows, as Leda I might have been the mother of Helen--or, as Anne, the mother of Mary.... I was also crippled shepherd in thrall of Saint Teresa of Avila; an Irish stable boy and a maker of stained glass at Chartres.... I saw the first performance of Hamlet and the last performance of Moliere, the actor. I was a friend to Oscar Wilde and an enemy to Leonardo.... I am both male and female. I am ageless, and I have no access to death."

On April 15, 1912--ironically the very date on which more than a thousand people lost their lives as the Titanic sank--a figure known only as Pilgrim tries to commit suicide by hanging himself from a tree. When he is found five hours later, his heart miraculously begins beating again. This isn't his first attempt to end his life, and it is decided that steps must be taken to prevent Pilgrim from doing himself further harm.

Escorted by his beloved friend, Lady Sybil Quartermaine, Pilgrim is admitted to the famous Burgholzi Psychiatric Clinic in Zurich, where he will begin a battle of psyche and soul with Carl Jung, the self-professed mystical scientist of the unconscious--who is also a slave to his own sexual appetites.

Hungry for intellectual and spiritual challenge, Jung is fascinated by this compelling and enigmatic patient who refuses to speak. Slowly, though, Jung coaxes him to reveal the astonishing story of his existence. Pilgrim claims to be ageless and sexless, having lived as both male and female for four thousand years. Asserting that he has witnessed the greatest events of human history, he recounts his involvement with numerous figures who have shaped world culture, including Leonardo da Vinci, Oscar Wilde, and Henry James.

For Jung, probing this patient's mind proves a challenge that is both frustrating and enlightening. Is Pilgrim delusional? Are his memories only dreams or something far more fantastic? Is it madness or a miracle? These interactions with Pilgrim have a profound and unexpected effect on the esteemed and controversial doctor's own life and sanity, for his dreams soon become entwined with those of his patient's, while the anchor of his soul, his marriage, begins to disintegrate. The puzzle called Pilgrim will seemingly lead either to Jung's salvation--or his damnation.

Beautifully written, deeply evocative, and filled with a fascinating cast of historical characters, Pilgrim is both a richly layered story of a man's search for his own destiny and an absorbing, mind-expanding novel that explores the timeless questions of humanity and consciousness. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (45)

a covenant broken
You take a lot on faith when you open the cover and start that first paragraph. You're going to give this a chunk of your most valuable possession: your time. You assume that someone held this up to some objective standards for quality. You put your faith in the publisher and the editor, assuming that if the author himself has somehow lost his bearings, they'll put him right. They wouldn't send it off to the printer with huge glaring plot holes, massive inconsistencies, multitudinous loose ends unresolved, and heaps of just plain nonsense never explained. I wish I could get back the money I paid for this book and I wish I could get back the time I wasted reading it. The author, publisher and editor all owe us an apology for passing off this lazy, self-indulgent piece of sloppiness as a whole, entire novel.

*massive spoilers ahead* Imagine any doctor anywhere observing a patient who can voluntarily manipulate the muscles of his forehead to form shapes approximating letters -- and never reporting it to anyone! On what planet? People see wings and birds that aren't there -- even photograph them! But nobody says nor does anything about it. Useless characters clutter up the story along with useless description about them, their lives, their clothing, their thoughts -- and it all leads to nothing. Carl Jung is content to disregard the fact that a woman killed in an avalanche had the great good luck to have written a farewell letter before heading out that day. Was this just a handy coincidence? Apparently so. And then there's Jung's wife with all those journals. After she miscarried, she just lost interest in those fantastic journals and no doubt put them away in a shoebox somewhere and forgot about them, right? Cuz they were never mentioned again. Right.

I admire what the author set out to do. It was a tantalizing premise, a great idea, and Findley launched it in good order, but it absolutely fell apart in the last pages of the book. I was frustrated and miffed. It was a good story, I'd become emotionally invested in the outcome, and so I wanted RESOLUTION. Do we not deserve that? No, I don't need to be spoonfed an explicit explanation of every little thing, but a book should cover the basics. It should make sense. This writer apparently feels he doesn't owe us that.

I'll never read anything by this man ever again and I think the book's publisher should be ashamed of himself. If you were the editor, you let us all down.

The Immortal Critic of Art and Pschology
The Pilgrim, a suicidal and renown art historian, hates art, as much as he hates life.In fact, the only thing he despises more is psychology in general, and the specific idea that there is but one temporal linear reality.Given this overbearing focus on negativity, it is a miracle that Timothy Findley has created a beautiful tale of about the elegant and not-so-elegant intricacies involved in both the practice of psychology and creation of art.Both the psychologists and the artists are protrayed with brutal specifics, but they seem more ignorant of goodness than practicing of evil.
The author uses artificial contrivances excessively to explain inconsistancies, but on the whole, he sucessfully makes this impossible myth seem almost believable.The protagonist can be neither loved nor hated, yet the reader strives to understand him.Some of the fasinating minor characters are introduced and then abandoned, before they are adequately developed, but a sprinkling of well researched historical figures provide a path for pursuing the plausibilty of some other aspects of this tale even beyond the novel itself.
It was a good read.

good book.
I really enjoyed this book. Intresting characters, facinating creative licence on historical figures and the whole plot with Da'vinci and the Mona Lisa is great. His charactersation of Dr. Jung was very enjoyable. My only critisism is the author diverges into other minor characters without any reason and uses whole chapters to do this. I can see a few paragraphs but a chapter was to much. By relating a few facts or tid bits it would have made a much more facinating read. I was also left with a feeling that I did not really know the main character as much as I would have liked. Pilgrim is shown hopping from body to body through time and space but there was a lack of essential essence to the man save as witness to greatness.

Thought Provoking...
I picked this book up quite a few times before I finally decided to read it, basically because I thought it would delve too much into the Jungian concepts, etc, of which I don't have much knowledge...I'd just heard of Jung before I read this!However, the book was really quite interesting, and though it looks like a daunting read, its really not...its thought provoking (as my review title suggests!), and it makes you pause once in a while to think somethings through...something you hadnt really thought of much before, some new concept, and such, but still, it is perfectly understandable...and even if one doesn't have a lot of knowledge of psychology to start off with, it makes one interested in finding out more...or at least it did me!...I would reccomend this for anyone who is looking for a slightly challenging read.

Life Everlasting
In Pilgrim Timothy Findley mixes fiction and fact in a necklace of words that are a feast for the soul. Pilgrim is a man whose past is shrouded in mystery. His story is a remarkable literary gem , a true mosaic for the mind. Findley traverses the heights of imagination in a book filled with passion , adventure and the many textures of life. There is a sparkling freshness to this utterly original creative endeavor.

Pilgrim is as individual as a snowflake. A book which inspires , enlightens and enriches the reader. Pilgrims life is altered by an idealistic Carl Jung who is seeking to serve the betterment of the universe. This book is so well written that at times you forget that its not history , its but a magnificent work of fiction.

Pilgrim is a tremendous achievement. The characters are vibrant , fascinating and astounding. There is a fantastic aura to this piece of literature. Pilgrims is an existence to be celebrated. A mythic existence of presence and being which becomes a journey of understanding and begs the question - What price immortality?

Timothy Findleys artistic vision enchants and inspires. The limitless realities throughout this book make the ordinary extraordinary. Imagination is knowledge and Findley once again proves himself a very wise man. The authentic voice of Timothy Findley takes us to visually stunning places , he paints a vibrant portrait of a man whose very existence is authentic and soul stirring. Pilgrim is a heart centered endeavor that i am profoundly proud to have read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

A gripping read
I don't usually like "mystery" or "suspense" novels, but this book took me by surprise and proved impossible to put down. The plot is not "overlong and overwrought". In fact, Findley builds the story meticulously. Right from the first page a sense of forboding and horror pervades the book, very much as in the model, Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" (also used by Coppola in "Apocalypse Now"). Perhaps not a "successor" to Conrad's novel, but certainly a very worthwhile development from it and one which does not owe its genius to the original. Certainly the reader will get more out of this book having read Conrad.

This book should please suspense readers as well as those after something a little more substantial. I am very surprised the book is not better known and am curious to read more by Timothy Findley.

Findley is a master...
Headhunter is a complex novel which combines images from Conrad's Heart of Darkness (the escape of Mr. Kurtz) and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (Jay Gatz, the lady in white) into a superb psycological novel.Findley is amaster of the screw-with-your-head type of novel, and he has proved it withHeadhunter.

The novel has countless dimensions that cannot be revealedthrough one reading.I look forward to reading it again (when I get itback from the last person I told "You HAVE to readthis!").

It's lengthy, but definitly worththe time.Enjoy thebook!

Modern day Heart of Darkness
Findley updates the distrubing images and symbolism of Conrad's classic Heart of Darkness, in this riveting epic.The character development is incredibly precise and leaves the reader with a true sense of being invloved with the characters.It is much easier to comprehend if you have read and studied Conrad's book, but a must for anyone who enjoyed the classic.Headhunter is book that will stay with you for the ages.

Real fine.
The Headhunter was good. I laughed, I was amazed, I was scared, I was glad. What more could you ask for. Good job Timothy Findley. Keep up the good work.

kudos to findley' headhunter
This is a superb literary thriller, the thinking person's antidote to hip, but mind-numbing, pop culture referencing. It helps to have some stored up memories of Heart of Darkness, as well as other works such as The Great Gatsby, but its chills do not extend only to the bookish. Warning: This book reveals what "the horror, the horror" means to a late 20th c. audience. It's not for the squeamish, but it is worthy of attention ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

A fantastic post-modern read
Interesting that The Wars deals with the First World War and one man's personal transformation both before the war and during it.Famous Last Words, in a sense, picks up where the other novel left off.While the author's fictional protagonist/antagonist Mauberly is the inadvertent co-narrator of the story, the novel really focuses on varying characters and motives both during and after the Second World War.

The most intriguing part of this novel is the discovery of Mauberly's writings on the walls of a European hotel room and the impending decisions to be made about its historical importance.American soldiers have to decide whether to preserve the historical narrative written by a questionable character or destroy all memory--artistic or otherwise--of a gruesome war.

One gets the sense that Findley is making a post-modern comment on the myth of truth-telling and the conflict between art and politics.But also, the irony of Findlay as storyteller commenting on the subjectivity of storytelling is not lost.

All the Findlay elements are here in this novel: intrigue, mystery, psycho-analysis, and moral ambiguity.It does not have the power or punch of The Wars, but it is a confusingly fascinating read.

A great read...although sometimes too complicated
Findley's "Famous Last Words" is an excellent novel, although sometimes wordy. In reading other works by Findley I found many similarities in the plot. Findley truly mixes fact and fiction in a believable fashion. This book was set well before my time, but I found Findley's use of fiction was in all the right places. The main plot of the secret underbelly of a fascist conspiracy to take over Europe transpiring before, during, and after WWII that featured a writer named Maulberely was interesting but confusing. Famous Last Words is unique, and exciting, providing the realization that not everything is as it seems...

The Electric Moment
To begin with, every reader of this book should first read the poem "Hugh Selwyn Mauberly" by Ezra Pound, since this fictional persona of Pound's ends up beingthe central character of this fascinating book.The book works mainly on two levels: 1.) That of the intrigues, relationships and a certain "cabal" surrounding the rise of the Fascists and Nazis to power and their eventual defeat, all plausible (I did some research), and historically based, which makes the book the page-turner that it is. 2.) Theembedded questionings of human motivations and actions and meditation-provoking sections futher calling into question what ultimately comprises history.

This second aspect is what makes the book more than just your average historical thriller.Findley has a fine manner of putting events into a poetic, philosophical cast. - But the book meanders a bit much, and somehow lacks a certain panache and poetic/philosophical heft that detracts from its effectiveness-Perhaps this is inevitable in a book that weaves in and out of so many different intrigues, betrayals and deceptions while at the same time employing a prose style that is downright contemplative at times.In other words, the two levels don't quite seem to mesh as they should.

Aside from a little muddlednesss, however, this is a very fine piece of literature.It will having you turning the pages in excited bewilderment while at the same time pondering the questions it provokes about mankind and history.

There is an intriguing passage in the middle of Mauberly's narrative where he imagines a future historian, a "dread academic, much too careful of his research" who will completely botch things in his account of these times "because he will not acknowledge that history is made in the electric moment, and its flowering is all in chance....There is more in history of impulse than we dare to know."---So, can a "true" history be written after all?Or does a fictional account, such as this book containing a narrative written by a fictional character, have the famous last words?

Fascinating Novel
This is available in New York Stores. Fascinating novel of intrigue and suspense

Extraordinary Fiction!
Timothy Findley's new novel is the result of a poetic and limitless imagination which goes beyond the confines of national boundaries and places him securely among the most original creative writers in thetwentieth century. With a rich, brilliantly crafted plot, this novel ofgripping international intrigue is one of his best yet. Ingeniuscharacters and a fantastic plot make this novel a brilliant example ofFindley's genius.A captivating piece of fiction. ... Read more

Amazon.com
As the story opens, Lily, the heroine of Timothy Findley's Victorian-Gothic-style novel as seen through the narrative of her son Charlie, is ending her days in an asylum; her life unfolds as a Dickensian tale of deprivation and struggle between the feminine and the coldlymasculine, leading to that "madwoman in the attic" denouement. Yet Charlie is reclaiming his mother's life through his loving telling of her story. "She could break your heart with that riveting gaze," he says. Music, vaudeville, and silent movies resonate through the lives in the novel, set in turn-of-the-century Toronto. Findley is a best-selling and award-winning Canadian writer, author of The Wars and Famous Last Words.Book Description

Narrated by Charlie Kilworth, whose birth is an echo of his mother's own illegitimate beginnings, The Piano Man's Daughter is the lyrical, multilayered tale of Charlie's mother, Lily, his grandmother Ede, and their family. Lily is a woman pursued by her own demons, "making off with the matches just when the fires caught hold," "a beautiful, mad genius, first introduced to us singing in her mother's belly." It is also the tale of people who dream in songs, two Irish immigrant families facing a new and uncertain future in turn-of-the-century Toronto. Finally, it is a richly detailed tribute to a golden epoch in our history and of a generation striking the last, haunting chord of innocence.

The Piano Man's Daughter is a symphony of wonderful storytelling, unforgettable characters, and a lilting, lingering melody that plays on long after the last page has been turned.

Customer Reviews (11)

interesting but lengthy
This writer is very adept at describing surroundings and different characters.I liked the story very much and yet I felt he left out key emotional responses to huge shifts in Lily's life.It is an interesting book and I was sad when it ended but I felt it would have been enhanced by more in-depth emotional descriptions.

I've read better...
This wasn't great but it wasn't that bad either. At times the constant jumping around was confusing. Timothy Findley does tell a good story but there were a lot of gaps that rather left me hanging.
It's a long, long story of a boy/man trying to find out who his father is. His mother suffers from various forms of maddness and the reader follows her mother's and then her life up to her death. I found the first part of the story better than the second. The part where Lily goes to Europe was vague and disjointed and none of the people she meets there were developed.
Having said that, I still quite enjoyed it.

the mystery and dread of fatherhood
The winner of numerous awards, Canadian author Findley shapes this 1996 novel around a young man's quest for his father and his dread of becoming a father himself.

Narrator Charlie Kilworth is the son of mad, beautiful, evervescent and tormented Lily Kilworth, who cannot or will not remember who Charlie's father is. It is her story Charlie tells, after her death in an asylum fire, a fire she may herself have set.

Lily's story begins before her birth, when her mother, Ede, meets an itinerant piano man. "The sight of him was like a match being struck," Ede recalls, beginning the incendiary allusions that punctuate the novel and haunt Lily's private world.

The piano man dies before he can wed Ede but eight years later she marries his brother, Frederick, an ambitious piano manufacturer whose one unorthodoxy is falling in love with Ede. He accepts Lily but without knowing of her affliction - severe epileptic seizures.

He is as repelled by Lily's epilepsy as Ede is frightened by it and becomes, for Lily, the demon of her childhood, the focus of rebellion and despair. But even though Frederick locks her in the attic whenever company is expected and finally banishes her to a school for difficult girls, Lily blossoms.

A beautiful, vibrant young woman, "hampered" not "handicapped" (the word makes her indignant) by her illness, she goes to England with a friend and it's there that Charlie is conceived. He knows only that the event occurred in January 1910 and he examines Lily's photos intently, imagining fathers, and questions her friends, adding pieces to the life she has already related to him.

Lily and Charlie return to Toronto before World War I but Frederick, outraged by Charlie's birth, refuses to see them. They begin a round of living in expensive hotels, going to dances where Charlie is always her partner, and seeing movies. For Charlie the life is a series of enchantments and nightmares as his mother's demons pursue her and drag him along. A child, he learns to watch over his mother although his dependency often renders him helpless.

When tragedy pushes Lily over the edge into madness, Charlie is liberated into normalcy - school, friends his own age, relatives. "It made a decent life - secure in ways I had never known." Lily emerges from the asylum but never permanently.

Charlie's voice is wistful, awed, admiring, impatient, petulant and wise. But it is Lily who colors and shapes the story, taking flight from her son's narration. Findley's writing is deeply atmosheric, enveloping the reader in the Canada of 1890 to 1920. He invites an intimacy with his characters (many not even touched on here) that creates a bond without violating their essential human secrecy.

A rewarding novel, which will linger in the mind.

By all views, a good book
You may think this story is only about Lily and her strange way of life, but it is so much more.It is also about her mother, her mother's empty life, although it would appear to be so full, her mother's loss of love, and other family wounds.Then , also woven into the story is the life and beliefs of her son, Charlie, who narates the tale of the strange legacy this family carries.

At times there are sad situations, sometimes a moment of joy and happiness also seems sad, because you realize how fleeting that moment will be for the characters involved.The madness of a woman so desperate to also be a mother and the way her needs all intertwine are very well written, and I think the author deserves huge kudos on this fact.the plot is interesting, the details are well written, and the story is intriguing.I love feeling like I am somewhere, for instance at a silent film, taking in the details Findley offers and so you also learn about a whole different time and way of life.

While some of the other reviews have criticised his over use of italics I found them so important to the book- for they usually revealed the true thoughts behind ones words and they showed how often we are not honest in what we say to what we are really thinking.All in all there is a lot to be learned from this book, whether it is a sympathetic moment, a new understanding of a different time, or the need to take what good you can from life at all times (a lesson we always need to be reminded of) you will not put this book down without thinking and enjoying some new and interesting thoughts.

Those fans of old time movies and the likes of Charlie Chaplan...etc. would probably enjoy many of the stories in the book even more, for these old time favorites may have been the only escape for some of the tragedy in these characters lives, and parts of the book revolves around them.I think for people who enjoy reading an interesting tale, especially one that touches on the need to break free from generational issues, this book would be a good additon to your reading list.

Beautiful Tale of a Mother's Madness
A very beautifully written tale narrated from the son's perspective. Findley's characters are very well developed though the use of italics becomes slightly annoying as the book progresses. ... Read more

Book Description
Findley exposes the sharp changes in the traditional institutions of love andmarriage and family through a vivid terrain of images and insightful stories.10,000 print. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Don't Throw Stones
I believe that "Stones" is one of the lesser known books by Findley, and is somewhat weaker than most of his popular works."Stones" is made up of multiple stories happening to various Canadian characters.The stories generally take up only one chapter andthen you don't hear from those characters again.I enjoyed reading this,but am not always a fan of this type of work.I often find myself attachedto a specific story and am then disappointed when it is dropped foranother; I find myself wanting to know what else happened.However, it isan interesting collection of characters and an interesting portrait ofCanadian life. ... Read more

Book Description
Findley exposes the sharp changes in the traditional institutions of love andmarriage and family through a vivid terrain of images and insightful stories.10,000 print. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Don't Throw Stones
I believe that "Stones" is one of the lesser known books by Findley, and is somewhat weaker than most of his popular works."Stones" is made up of multiple stories happening to various Canadian characters.The stories generally take up only one chapter andthen you don't hear from those characters again.I enjoyed reading this,but am not always a fan of this type of work.I often find myself attachedto a specific story and am then disappointed when it is dropped foranother; I find myself wanting to know what else happened.However, it isan interesting collection of characters and an interesting portrait ofCanadian life. ... Read more

Book Description
Canadian Fiction Studies are an answer to every librarian's, student's, and teacher's wishes. Each book, about 80 pages in length, contains clear, readable information on a major Canadian novel. These studies are carefully designed readings of the novels; they are not substitutes for reading them. Each book is attractively produced and follows the same format, so students will know exactly what to expect:

a chronology of the author's lifethe importance of the bookcritical receptionreading of the textselected list of works cited ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A nice little excursion into the deluge and terror of faith.
As a youngster I was first fascinated by the magic of thebiblical account of the first end of the earth.And now, as before, I am awstruck.Timothy Findley has not held back in his confrontation of the ignorance and subsequent treachery involved in faith: placing a science/religion dichotemy in the fabled time and setting, is particulary poignant.Much of the story istruely disturbing, engulfed in stenches and darknesses of different kinds, especially when the two ark factions are established.Noahs actions themselves are not so disturbing, but his all-to-real belief - his heartfelt and sacrimonial conviction - that his actions are justified by god.His god and friend and offerer of impunity.But I did enjoy some of the dark humour, so aptly placed to relieve tension (such as demons shouting their last 'whee!' as they are jettisoned).I do admit that much of the story was beyond me, but such obscurity seems rather fitting for a modern myth.And at the end I find myself relating more strongly then ever to the notion that at the end of every day there is a pertinent dread in the expectation of a brand new tomorrow and a brand new age, a brand new andavery foriegn world.But who is there we can pray for rain?Another great commentary on humanity; a fullfilling read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A rich and interesting mystery from a fine novelist
Timothy Findley is a former actor and radio performer and scriptwriter from Canada who has written one incredible novel (_Not Wanted On the Voyage_) and quite a few good ones. There is no such thing as a"characteristic" Findley novel, and this is no exception.

With_The Telling Of Lies_, the author takes on the murder mystery genre, but ofcourse it's not your typical mystery. It takes place on the south coast ofMaine, at a resort hotel with an assortment of characters. Thenarrator/protagonist, a middle-aged woman, not only tackles and solves themystery, but intersperses the main plot with memories of her experiences ina Japanese prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War.

The story iswell told. I liked this book better than _Famous Last Words_ (though it isa less complicated and momentous story) and _The Piano Man's Daughter_,about as much as _The Butterfly Plague_ and his memoir/essay collection_Inside Memory_, but not as much as his masterpiece, _Not Wanted On theVoyage_. ... Read more

Book Description

Book Description
This digital document is an article from World Literature Today, published by University of Oklahoma on July 1, 2003. The length of the article is 598 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Timothy Findley. Spadework.(Book Review)
Author: Elin Elgaard
Publication: World Literature Today (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2003
Publisher: University of Oklahoma
Volume: 77Issue: 2Page: 96(1)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Timothy Findley, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 6980 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
In this first full-length study of Timothy Findley, Lorraine York argues that his novels and short stories are part of a system of war texts. Not only is Findley's fiction haunted by the specter of war, it is a compulsive testament to the infinite repetitions of war in our domestic, gender, and class conflicts. Influenced by feminist literary theory, the workings of literary intertextuality, and the new historiography, York shows how war as a literary device as well as various historical wars, documents of war, and literary war texts inform the novels and stories of Timothy Findley to such an extent that war becomes an integral part of their signifying systems. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document is an article from Yearbook of English Studies, published by Modern Humanities Research Association on January 1, 2001. The length of the article is 7023 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Fraternizing with the Enemy: Constructions of Masculinity in the Short Fiction of Timothy Findley.
Author: Susan E. Billingham
Publication: Yearbook of English Studies (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2001
Publisher: Modern Humanities Research Association
Page: 205

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Book Description
A writer of international reputation, Timothy Findley's career encompasses successes in theatre, film, television, radio, and works of literature that have been translated into many languages and have received wide acclaim. Carol Roberts uncovers the life and career of the man who has been called a master storyteller. Roberts also extensively documents Findley's own stories about himself and his works. Always insightful and sometimes quirky, these stories capture Findley's excessive, mad, marvelous, puzzling, disturbing, and utterly brilliant vision. ... Read more