Ticknor

by Sheila Heti

Genres: Historical Fiction; Literary Fiction

Synopsis

"A small masterpiece" (National Post)-An utterly original first novel from a rising international star

On a cold, rainy night, an aging bachelor named George Ticknor prepares to visit his childhood friend Prescott, now one of the leading intellectual lights of their generation. Reviewing a life of petty humiliations, and his friend's brilliant career, Ticknor sets out for the dinner party-a party at which he'd just as soon never arrive.

Distantly inspired by the real-life friendship between the great historian William Hickling Prescott and his biographer, Ticknor is a witty, fantastical study in resentment. It recalls such modern masterpieces of obsession as Thomas Bernhard's The Loser and Nicholson Baker's The Mezzanine and announces the arrival of a charming and original novelist, one whose stories have already earned her a passionate international following.

"A perceptive act of ventriloquism, [Ticknor] rewards thought and rereading, and offers a finely cadenced voice, intelligence and . . . moody beauty." -Catherine Bush, The Globe and Mail

"Confoundedly strange [and] fascinating." -Nicholas Dinka, Quill & Quire

Release date: March 20, 2007

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Print pages: 128