World Enough

by Lesley Choyce

Description

When their farm gets expropriated to make way for the Point Lepreau nuclear power plant, Alexander McNab and his family move to Saint John. Without the magic of the Bay of Fundy, without the bright companionship of his little sister, Alex grows up a lonely, insecure failure. At 30, he's had enough; to make a clean break, he moves to Halifax. There, he is hired as a counsellor at New Dawn, a rehabilitation workshop, even though he has no professional qualifications. Alex soon becomes part of show more the New Dawn family, and the distinction between the helper and the helped blurs. The key may be that Alex takes for granted the wholeness in each of these damaged adults. Blind Jeff, 17, knows everything about cars, so Alex takes him out to the parking lot and teaches him to drive. In turn, Alex is adopted by Cornwallis Itwaru, a descendent of Jamaican Maroons plagued by encroaching Alzheimer's, who firmly adjusts Alex's fuzzy thinking. Alex sees right away that Gloria Vincent, who suffers from schizophrenia, has adopted a sloppy dress and ugly glasses as camouflage for her intelligence and beauty, and his discovery does not wholly displease her. Unfortunately, New Dawn goes broke, but by the time the landlord padlocks the doors, Alex has learned that living life fully doesn't depend on external circumstances. show less

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Lesley Choyce

112+ Works 1,397 Members

Lesley Choyce was born in New Jersey in 1951 and moved to Canada in 1978. Choyce teaches part-time at Dalhousie University, runs Pottersfield Press and has written 40 adult and young adult books. Choyce also hosts a nationally syndicated TV talk show in Halifax. His recent novel, The Republic of Nothing is currently being developed as a feature show more length movie. In 1996, Viking/Penguin published Choyce's best-selling Nova Scotia: Shaped By The Sea. Along with the Surf Poets, he has released a poetry/music album titled Long Lost Planet. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Lesley Choyce is a LibraryThing Author, an author who lists their personal library on LibraryThing.

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