KATHY PAGE
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Born in the UK, Kathy Page moved from London to the West Coast of Canada in 2001, and now lives on Salt Spring Island, “a community of artists, writers and other eccentrics within spitting distance of Vancouver”. Her 2002 novel, The Story of My Face, was long-listed for the Orange Prize, and Alphabet, 2005, was nominated for the Governor General’s award in Canada. The Story of My Face is currently optioned and in development as a feature film. Page’s fiction has the rare virtue of combining literary qualities with page-turning suspense. |
Page’s characters are both compelling and convincing; her fiction plunges the reader into vividly created worlds full of obstacles, questions and surprises. The outcome is never predictable. “I’m interested in relationships, in the way people make sense of their lives... and I’m especially interested in unexpected, unusual bonds between people,”’ she says, “in the paradoxical way that a so-called bad relationship can do someone good; in survival against the odds, and transformation: the magic by which a bad hand becomes a good chance.” Page trained as a psychotherapist, but prefers to write. She has taught fiction writing at Universities in Canada, England, Finland and Estonia, and held residencies in a variety of institutions/communities, including a fishing village and a high security prison in the UK. THE FIND The Find is a moving and compelling exploration of the way an “impossible” relationship comes, against all odds, to transform and define two people’s lives. Anna Silowski , highly educated, driven and successful, works a curator in a prestigious paleontological museum. Scott Macleod is so very different to her that they might as well be living in separate worlds: he dropped out of school, has a confused relationship with his native roots, and an alcoholic father in tow. Anna is at the top of her game, Scott does not even know what his might be. A day’s prospecting leads Anna to make an extraordinary discovery in the remote part of BC where Scott lives, and sets off a chain of events that will lead to the meeting that will change both their lives. While Anna seems powerful and in control, things are in fact far from perfect. She’s alone. She’s lived for years with knowledge of her father’s death from a devastating, inheritable disease, telling no one and avoiding intimacy. Now, her excitement about her one in a lifetime discovery is tempered by tensions with Mike Swenson, a charismatic but treacherous colleague who almost succeeds in claiming the find for his own. These and other pressures push her to the brink of breakdown. At the same time, Scott moves towards his own meltdown - and his first real meeting with Anna: in a deserted small town bar, Anna finds herself first confiding in Scott, and then feeling that she can’t cope without him. Despite feeling out of his depth, Scott accepts Anna’s invitation to work on the excavation of her find. Ostensibly he’s there as camp cook, but really he’s a kind of emotional prop. Anna believes that it is his presence which enables her to deal with the ongoing struggle with Swenson and the technical intricacies of the dig. When native and conservation groups unite and demonstrate against the excavation, Scott’s loyalties are divided, but he and Anna avert disaster at the last minute and bring the excavation to a successful conclusion. However, the growing attraction between them can’t be denied. They become lovers. Soon they are struggling over what each of them thinks this relationship is and can be, and - as Anna moves towards taking the test that will define her medical situation once and for all – over how long it will last, and what it means. Would it be wrong, as Anna argues, for her to let him stay with her? Has she used him? Will he abandon her? How will each of them survive without the other? None of these questions have simple answers, but The Find is a moving and compelling exploration of the way an impossible relationship comes, against all odds, to transform and define two people’s lives. Rights available: All except English / Canada (McArthur)
PRAISE FOR ALPHABET Alphabet is not just highly readable, but one of the strongest, most eloquent, most tightly constructed novels of the year. It is a measure of the quiet artistry of Alphabet that, out of material that would have been at home in the blackest of black comedies, Kathy Page has celebrated, with rare deftness, the resilience of the human heart. David Robson, The Sunday Telegraph A complex book, and splendidly written, Alphabet is an intensely compelling reading experience that speaks to the power of words and the significance of language in all its dangerous subtleties. Marc Horton, The Edmonton Journal Sometimes novelists go too far – and sometimes they manage to demonstrate that too far is the place they needed to go…. Time Out, UK Simon is real. Simon gets under your skin. You'll keep reading Alphabet because you'll want to understand how Simon got to Z from A. The Times It's not hard to guess what got Page onto the GG shortlist: sheer chutzpah. Page brashly takes up residence in the head and heart of a convicted murderer, a confirmed woman-hater and desperately lost soul. In fact, it's a bit unnerving how well we get to know Simon, his darkest moments, his most improbable hopes, and how much we come to care about his effort to change.' The Weekend Post One of the most complex characters I’ve ever met in a novel. His attempt to win redemption is totally engrossing. Victoria Times Kathy Page knows that the things we can't understand are often the things that terrify us the most. In this dark and lovely novel, she takes us places we may not want to go... January Magazine PRAISE FOR THE STORY OF MY FACE One of the most compelling, unsettling novels I’ve read in ages, which should appeal to fans of classy thrillers and literary fiction alike. Sarah Waters, author of Fingersmith, Independent On Sunday Books of the Year. A compelling and unpredictable journey... beautifully written, rolls on at a rapid pace and delivers a satisfying punch at the end. Globe and Mail A moving, absorbing story.. Kathy Page writes beautifully. Helen Dunmore, author of A Spell of Winter Natalie’s character is a triumph.. It’s rare to find a book that can not only move and thrill but also asks fundamental questions about religious belief and the nature of virtue and sin. Good Books Guide Her [Page's] writing, mostly in the present tense, is lit with an immediate sense of period, summoning images which are by turns softly painterly, sharply filmic or as murky as those first television images of the moon landing. Times Literary Supplement Incredibly evocative and haunting.. it keeps you reading, wanting to uncover both Natalie’s past and that of Tuomas Envall. Sunday Express An elegantly compelling story of how a young girl’s obsession forever changes the lives of those around her.. a disciplined exploration of the complexity of human motivation and our need for redemption... Vancouver Sun A most impressive achievement. Daily Telegraph A compelling and unpredictable journey... beautifully written, rolls on at a rapid pace and delivers a satisfying punch at the end. Globe and Mail
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