The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal

Description

An original, mischievous rites of passage novel which will delight fans of offbeat fiction such as 'Salmon Fishing in the Yemen'. The Lacuna Cabal Montreal Young Women's Book Club is THE foremost book club in Canada, no, in the world. Priding themselves on their good taste, intelligent discussions and impeccable opinions, they are a group of misfits and oddballs, living on the edge of normality. There are only two rules: what Missy says goes (ok, there is a nod to democracy but let's be honest here) and NO BOYS. EVER. Of course, the premier book club in the world must read the first book ever written: 'The Epic of Gilgamesh'. But this monumental book leads them to break all their rules, shed members who end up missing out on EVERYTHING, and travel across the open seas to Bahrain in search of a wise man who'll hopefully have all the answers. Original, funny, quixotic and ultimately very moving, The Last Days of the Lacuna Cabal is set in a time of upheaval: the Iraq war is exploding and people across the world are marching in protest. It's the story of a group of friends who find a family of sorts within their book group, who learn to cope with love, and the lack of it, loss, and the lack of that, and with growing up in a world that is falling apart.

Sean Dixon is a full-time writer, occasional essayist, stage actor and banjoist. He gave up jobs as a shipper-receiver, a poster boy (of the putting up on billboards variety) and a prison driver to become a writer. His young adult novel, The Feathered Cloak, was published by Key Porter in Autumn 2007. He lives and plays banjo in Toronto and is currently working on his next novel for HarperCollins.

'The novel everyone will be talking about' London Lite '[A] sweet, unpredictable novel!ingenious and openly written' Time Out 'A clever little book!you'll love it' Daily Express 'The Lacuna Cabal Montreal Young Women's Book Club is unconventional in more ways than one -- namely that its members don't do much reading! But they do share a bond and help each other to cope with the changing world in this fab book. 4 stars' OK! Magazine 'A sort of Tristram Shandy for the twenty-first century!It'll blow your mind.' Michael Redhill 'The pleasure of the book comes from Dixon's deft handling of his weightier literary themes' Quill & Quire, Books of the Year 2007 '[In] this ambitious book!Dixon has fashioned his make-believe to be relevant, offered a satisfying harvest from early planted seeds, and embedded some fine intellectual levity.' Globe and Mail 'Every chapter is filled with biff, bang, pow surprises! Suspend your disbelief and thrill in the oddities.' She Does the City.com 'The novel is infused with sex and literary in-jokes and the postmodern device of self-reflexive footnotes to spice up the story. But its surface playfulness masks a deeper seriousness: there is death in the novel, and war and a recognition of human fragility and loneliness. These themes, which are deeply and inextricably embedded, put the lie to the notion that a Canadian novel must affect a stentorian pose in order to be worthy of consideration. Flannery O'Connor wrote that "all comic novels that are any good must be about matters of life and death"; Sean Dixon would surely agree.' That Shakespearean Rag 'Riddled with references to literature throughout centuries and contemporary culture, this story is more than the words contained within the covers!fast paced, witty and engaging' Broken Pencil Lit Zine