by Méira Cook
“Nobody Ever Told You” by Carrie Underwood
“Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys
“Put It in Your Mouth” by Akinyele
“The Name Game” by Shirley Ellis
“Song of Bernadette” by Leonard Cohen
“Bernadette” by The Four Tops
“Samson and Delilah” by The Grateful Dead
“I Will Wait For You” (Love Theme from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg) by Michel Legrand
“Chico’s Masurka” by The Marx Brothers
“Dinner (from Big Night)” by Gary de Michele
“The Oldest Established Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York” (from Guys and Dolls) by Frank Sinatra
“Forever Young” by Jay-Z
“Unforgettable” by Nat King Cole
“October” by U2
“My Way” by Frank Sinatra
“American Pie” by Don McLean
“Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)” by The Byrds
“Whistling Away the Dark” by Julie Andrews
“Shortcuts and Dead Ends” by ¡MAYDAY!
“The Ambient Air (Reprise)” by Louise Talma
“Don’t Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes” by Dean Martin
“One Great City!” by The Weakerthans
Acknowledgements
My profound gratitude to Rachel Letofsky and Janie Yoon; Rachel for her unblinking support, and Janie for much necessary blinking. Janie’s visionary zeal was transformative; I feel lucky to have been sucked into her creative whirlwind. Much appreciation to Joanna Reid and Maria Golikova for turning copyediting into art. Thank you to Sarah MacLachlan and the lovely folks at House of Anansi, and to Paige Sisley and the gracious crew at The Cooke Agency.
Thank you to the editors of Event, Grain, and Prairie Fire, where excerpts from this novel, in the form of short stories, were published. Ian Cockfield, Shashi Bhat, and Cynthia Rogerson were early and encouraging readers.
I couldn’t have wished for a more beautiful cover. Thank you to artist Miriam Rudolph, transplanted Winnipegger and admirer of elms. And to Alysia Shewchuk for her gracious book design.
My appreciation to the Manitoba Arts Council and the Winnipeg Arts Council. It is my great good fortune to live in a city where writing is celebrated.
Love and gratitude to Shoshana, Misha, Shai, and their father. Thank you for letting me laugh at you, kiddos. And for returning the favour.
Thank you to my father for buying a ticket, to family and friends, libraries, bookstores, readers, and writers. Thank you and apologies to Winnipeg for playing fast and loose with your streets and neighbourhoods, your festivals and railway schedules. Let’s just say that all inaccuracies were intended and call it quits.
MÉIRA COOK is the award-winning author of the novels The House on Sugarbush Road, which won the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award, and Nightwatching, which won the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. She has also published five poetry collections, most recently Monologue Dogs, which was shortlisted for the 2016 Lansdowne Prize for Poetry and for the 2016 McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award. She has won the CBC Poetry Prize and the inaugural Walrus Poetry Prize. She has served as writer in residence at the University of Manitoba’s Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture, and the Winnipeg Public Library. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, she now lives in Winnipeg.
HOUSE OF ANANSI PRESS was founded in 1967 with a mandate to publish Canadian-authored books, a mandate that continues to this day even as the list has branched out to include internationally acclaimed thinkers and writers. The press immediately gained attention for significant titles by notable writers such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, George Grant, and Northrop Frye. Since then, Anansi’s commitment to finding, publishing and promoting challenging, excellent writing has won it tremendous acclaim and solid staying power. Today Anansi is Canada’s pre-eminent independent press, and home to nationally and internationally bestselling and acclaimed authors such as Gil Adamson, Margaret Atwood, Ken Babstock, Peter Behrens, Rawi Hage, Misha Glenny, Jim Harrison, A. L. Kennedy, Pasha Malla, Lisa Moore, A. F. Moritz, Eric Siblin, Karen Solie, and Ronald Wright. Anansi is also proud to publish the award-winning nonfiction series The CBC Massey Lectures. In 2007, 2009, 2010, and 2011 Anansi was honoured by the Canadian Booksellers Association as “Publisher of the Year.”