Missing Steps
Description
Dean Lajeunesse doesn't want to follow in his father's footsteps. He's not yet fifty, but his memory is starting to fail him. He vividly recalls how dementia whittled away at his dad and doesn't want his own teenaged son, Aidan, to see him suffer the same fate. Of course, he could just be overreacting. Maybe it's the stress of his on-again-off-again relationship with Valerie, his long-time live-in girlfriend, or the feeling that he's not measuring up as a father that's making him absent-minded. But before he can understand what's happening to him, he's dragged home to the sickbed of his estranged mother. There, he butts heads with his older brother, Perry, who's remained loyal to their mother and has succeeded in almost every way that Dean hasn't. As old family tensions bubble to the surface, Dean must try to hold on to Aidan's respect as he relives his difficult relationship with his own father.
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Person
Paul Cavanagh is a Canadian author whose debut novel, After Helen, won the Lit Idol competition at the London Book Fair in the UK and was published to rave reviews in the United States, Canada, and the British Isles. He's been compared to Pulitzer Prize winner Anne Tyler for his ability to be at turns funny and moving while exploring the paradoxes of modern family relationships. He lives in London, Ontario (not be be confused with that other London). Weekend Pass is his third novel.
