Lear's Shadow Paperback by Claire Holden Rothman

Product Details

• Publisher: Penguin Canada (2018-07-10)
• Language: English
• Paperback: 336 pages
• ISBN-13: 9780735234253
• Item Weight: 349.27 grams
• Dimensions: 8.24 x 5.71 x 0.87 cm

A captivating novel about aging fathers and their grown daughters, childhood scars, and rewriting the script with a little help from Shakespeare, from the acclaimed author of My October.

On the brink of forty, Bea Rose has lost her lover, her business, and her bearings. When the opportunity arises to work on a summer production of King Lear to be staged in various parks around Montreal, she takes it, despite her utter lack of theatre experience.
     Things get off to a rocky start when Bea meets the artistic director, Artie White, a childhood friend whose presence stirs up painful memories. Then, inadvertently attracting the attentions of the play's aging star, she learns that she must tread carefully among the egos and relationships of the company. At the same time, Bea's father begins behaving erratically, and her younger sister Cara discovers cracks in the foundation of an apparently perfect life.
     The sisters do their best to care for their beloved, demanding father, but his deteriorating condition is more than they can handle. Meanwhile, the star of Lear is also faltering amidst the confusions of age, illness, and regret. When a raucous party whirls out of control, the various forces in Bea's life collide, culminating in a violent act that could destroy more than one life. But that act also reveals how lives might be united in new ways.
     Tender, vivid, and powerful, Lear's Shadow is a richly satisfying meditation on love's power to bind and to liberate. It's a lyrical reminder that even in the face of grief, life's joy can be embraced.

About the Author

CLAIRE HOLDEN ROTHMAN's My October was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize and a finalist for the Governor General's Award. Her debut novel The Heart Specialist, also longlisted for the Giller, was published in six countries. She has written two story collections and is an award-winning translator.