The Cure for Death by Lightning
First edition (Canadian)
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| Author | Gail Anderson-Dargatz |
|---|---|
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English language |
| Publisher | Knopf Canada |
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Publication date
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1996 |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 294 |
| ISBN | |
The Cure for Death by Lightning is the debut novel from Canadian author Gail Anderson-Dargatz. It was nominated for the Giller Prize, was awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and became a bestseller in Canada (selling over 100,000 copies) and Great Britain (where it won a Betty Trask Award).
Set in an isolated farming community in Shuswap Country,British Columbia at the end of the Second World War it is a coming of age story containing elements of magic realism. Fifteen-year-old Beth Weeks has to contend with her family's struggle against poverty but also her increasingly paranoid and aggressive father whose behaviour leaves the family as outcasts in the community. A number of unusual characters appear in the book, including Filthy Billy a hired hand with tourettes and Nora a sensual half-Native girl whose mother has an extra little finger and a man's voice. The title of the book comes from one of a number of household tips and recipes belonging to her mother which appear as asides throughout the book, whilst the mother herself withdraws from reality and talks with her dead mother; leaving Beth to be sexually molested by her father...
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