Description: Haunted by the vivid horrors of the Vietnam War, exhausted from years spent battling his memories, Napoleon Haskell retreats to a small Ontario town. When Napoleon's daughter arrives, fleeing troubles of her own, she finds her father in the dark twilight of his life, and rapidly slipping into senility. With love and insatiable curiosity, she devotes herself to learning the truth about his life; and through the fog, his past begins to emerge.
Brief description: Johanna Skibsrud is the author of The Sentimentalists, winner of the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and This Will Be Difficult to Explain, as well as two poetry collections. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.
Review Quotes: A slim debut novel graced by inventive language and a haunting atmosphere. . . . The melancholy mood and restrained language of the story settles deep into a reader's consciousness.--NPR