Spanning three decades and two continents, Jane Urquhart’s novel follows the story of ordinary lives marked by obsession and transformed by art.
At the centre of a large cast of immigrants, labourers and dreamers is Klara Becker, the granddaughter of a master carver. She is a seamstress haunted by a love affair cut short by the First World War, and by the frequent disappearances of her brother Tilman, afflicted since childhood with wanderlust. From Ontario, they are swept into a colossal venture in Europe years later, as Toronto sculptor Walter Allward shapes his ambitious plans for a war memorial at Vimy, France.
Jane Urquhart
About the Author
A Canadian novelist’s multi-generational story of a family of carvers used the First World War as a way to look at memory, history and the redemptive powers of art.