Happy book birthday to HALF LIFE by Krista Foss, a raw, absorbing, tender, and witty novel about a woman’s long-overdue reckoning with memory, truth, and the multiverse of familial love, which is out today from McClelland & Stewart!
“Every sentence is alive in this miraculous novel—one in which the listening ear of Niels Bohr bends towards an aspiring physicist, where history walks beside science, and where a world ‘undaunted by paradox’ exists only in theory. What do we believe, and who, and why? How do we continue if denied the love entwined with belief? What if forgiveness itself becomes a lasting injury? Krista Foss has a vast heart. She is a stunning writer.” —Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing
“This is the most beautiful novel I’ve read in a long time. Each chapter reveals new treasures: holographic, exquisite, shattering. I read it with wonder. Krista Foss is an artist.” —Sarah Selecky, author of Radiant Shimmering Light
“A sensitive portrayal of one woman’s attempt to find her place in the world, while grappling with the decades-long fallout from a family rift. Emotionally complex and beautifully written, Foss’s Half Life is a tender exploration of the perils of silence and the power that can come from speaking the truth.” —Saleema Nawaz, author of Songs for the End of the World
“Krista Foss wields language with the precision and beauty of a shard of glass, delicate yet knife-like. With intelligence, wit, and uncanny insight, she explores the complexities of family dynamics gently and viscerally, like a tongue probing an aching tooth. Half Life is a mesmerizing novel about the chain reaction set off by the choices we make, the stories we tell ourselves, and the secrets we keep.” —Amy Jones, author of Every Little Piece of Me
Krista Foss’s short fiction has appeared in Granta and has twice been a finalist for the Journey Prize. Her first novel, Smoke River, won the Hamilton Literary Award. She’s an award-winning essayist who has worked as a bartender, journalist, and teacher. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and lives in Hamilton, Ontario. Krista is represented by Samantha Haywood.