Winner, Margaret Laurence Award for FictionShortlisted, McNally Robinson Book of the Year and Relit Award (Novel)Award-winning author Margaret Sweatman has proven herself a virtuoso writer of historical fiction. Yet nothing she has written can prepare you for Mr. Jones. Emmett Jones is adrift. Having firebombed civilians as a pilot during World War II, Emmett searches for something to cling to when life loses focus. Post-war, he becomes compulsively drawn to John Norfield, a former POW who has found his focus in communism. Set in a time of rampant paranoia, Mr. Jones peels back the veneer of Canadian politics to reveal a nation willing to sacrifice its own. It is a fearful time, a time of "peace" at the onset of the nuclear age. Emmett's existence comes under scrutiny. His relationship with Norfield makes him a target of security forces. His marriage, his job, even his child are the target of investigation. And as the nuclear arms race heats up, Mr. Jones sets himself on a path that will risk the lives of everyone he holds dear. Evoking the classic works of le Carre and Greene, Sweatman's novel is a shattering exploration of a past where world governments threaten annihilation while training housewives in the proper techniques for sweeping up radioactive dust.
About the AuthorMargaret Sweatman is a playwright, performer, and the author of six novels, including The Gunsmith's Daughter. Her novels have won the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Carol Shields Winnipeg Book Award, the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, the McNally Robinson Book of the Year, and the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic. She lives in Winnipeg.
AwardsWinner of Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction 2015 (Canada). Short-listed for McNally Robinson Book of the Year 2015 (Canada) and ReLit Award (Novel) 2015 (Canada).
Book InformationISBN 9780864929143
Author Margaret SweatmanFormat Hardback
Page Count 484
Imprint Goose Lane EditionsPublisher Goose Lane Editions
Weight(grams) 636g
Dimensions(mm) 203mm * 127mm * 39mm