{"product_id":"the-company-we-keep-a-novel-isbn-9781443457538","title":"The Company We Keep: A Novel","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOn Tuesday nights in\u003cbr\u003ethe backroom of Cassie’s café, six strangers seek solace and find\u003cbr\u003ethemselves part of a “Company of Good Cheer”\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHazzley is at loose ends, even three years after the death of her husband.\u003cbr\u003eWhen her longtime friend Cassandra, café owner and occasional dance-class\u003cbr\u003epartner, suggests that she start up a conversation group, Hazzley posts a\u003cbr\u003enotice on the community board at the local grocery store. Four people turn up\u003cbr\u003efor the first meeting: Gwen, a recently widowed retiree in her early sixties,\u003cbr\u003ewho finds herself pet-sitting a cantankerous parrot; Chiyo, a forty-year-old\u003cbr\u003efitness instructor who cared for her unyielding but gossip-loving mother\u003cbr\u003ethrough the final days of her life; Addie, a woman pre-emptively grieving a\u003cbr\u003eclose friend who is seriously ill; and Tom, an antiques dealer and amateur poet\u003cbr\u003ewho, deprived of home baking since becoming a widower, comes to the first\u003cbr\u003emeeting hoping cake will be served. Before long, they are joined by Allam, a\u003cbr\u003eSyrian refugee with his own story to tell.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese six strangers are learning that beginnings can be possible at any\u003cbr\u003estage of life. But as they tell their stories, they must navigate\u003cbr\u003ewhat is shared and what is withheld. Which version of the truth will be revealed? Who is\u003cbr\u003eprepared to step up when help is needed? This moving, funny and deeply\u003cbr\u003eempathic new novel from acclaimed author Frances Itani reminds us that life,\u003cbr\u003ewith all its twists and turns, never loses its capacity to surprise.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“Itani’s prose is seductive … That’s My Baby is a satisfying offering by an author who never fails to delight.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eQuill \u0026amp; Quire\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Itani's company is Always Worth Keeping but this new set of characters is grieving in surprising and diverse and sometimes embarrassing ways, and doing it so wholeheartedly and experimentally, that I jumped into the group of them for good and keeps. This is a book that brings comfort and joy.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLinda Spalding, Governor General’s Award-winning author of The Purchase\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“\u003cem\u003eThe Company We Keep\u003c\/em\u003e is a multifaceted meditation on the living world of grief, starting with the irony of its title. With her characteristic compassion and gentle humour, Frances Itani brings us to Hazzley’s Grief Discussion Group, where we learn that grief assumes many guises – and isn’t always for the departed.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWayne Grady, author of Up From Freedom\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This charming, uplifting portrait of strangers brought together by loss is a testament to the common roots of our suffering. Itani’s writing is familiar in all the best ways – cozy and comforting, like a letter from an old friend. Like grief itself, it leads us to unexpected and tender places.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDr. Jillian Horton, author of We Are All Perfectly Fine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Frances Itani leads us away from a raucous world of politics and plagues in this insightful examination of lives left ragged by the surprising complexity of grief.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLinden MacIntyre, Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning author of The Bishop’s Man and The Wake\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eThat's My Baby\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e: “Itani writes with a quiet grace, an acute attention to detail and a keen, empathic awareness of things not said, of secrets and hidden emotional truths… the beauty and force of the novel cannot be denied.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eToronto Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A wonderful story, with a richly detailed sense of time and place, and compelling characters who, ultimately, all have secrets to tell.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWinnipeg Free Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Itani's vivid storytelling, infused with music and seamless historical detail, reveals how memory, no matter how imperfect, can shape the person we believe ourselves to be.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCBC Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A poignant story of love and sacrifice . . . . This is yet another unforgettable novel from a Canadian literary icon.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eWinnipeg Free Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise for \u003cem\u003eTell\u003c\/em\u003e:\u003c\/strong\u003e “Masterful … To read \u003cem\u003eTell\u003c\/em\u003e is to drop seamlessly into the lives of [characters] so vivid and well drawn readers will celebrate their victories and cry alongside their anguish … An enthralling reminder of the toll the war – and all wars – take, not only on the soldiers but on the families who keep faith on the home front.”   - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eToronto Star\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Gravely beautiful… Itani’s prose is at its best in her lyrical descriptions of landscape… The historical research behind the novel is impeccable.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Tell is a treasure: serious with humorous moments, potent and controlled, subtle yet deeply moving.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eShortlisted for the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize - Jury Citation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A heart-wrenching story of hope and sacrifice, of human error and unconventional healing, in which the characters must test the strength of their love for one another in order to break free from the shadows of the past.”  - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChatelaine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"HarperCollins Publishers","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44889306104037,"sku":"NP9781443457538","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9781443457538.jpg?v=1730230972","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/the-company-we-keep-a-novel-isbn-9781443457538","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}