Chase & Haven

• Michael Blouin
• Coach House, 2008
• Paperback, 250 pages
• ISBN: 9781552452035

This book is not currently in stock, but is available to order (2-3 weeks).

Haven is fiercely protective of her little brother, Chase, spiriting him away when their fathers temper is about to flare yet again. She hides the bread away so hell have something for lunch, and she teaches him to hide himself. But when thats no longer enough to keep him safe, she steals the car and takes them both away to their aunt, Mary, who tries her best to love and nurture them.</p> <p>They try to redeem their harrowing childhood in different ways: Haven, lost and damaged, goes to medical school and teachers college, and marries young, hoping to find meaning through her daughter, April. Chase battles his demons through cathartic but doomed performance art. And, always, they try to keep one another afloat.

Chase and Haven is a haunting story inventively told and deeply felt  of suffering and love, made of thousands of small impressionist facets that refract the quiet spectrum of the beauty and the detritus of two entwined lives.

Michael Blouin resides in Kemptville, near Ottawa. He has been the recipient of the Diana Brebner Prize for Poetry from Arc, Canadas National Poetry Magazine, as well as the Lillian I. Found Prize for Poetry from Carleton University, and his work has been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award. His collection of poetry, Im not going to lie to you, was published by Pedlar Press in fall 2007.