7.4 /10 1 Votes
Language English language Media type Print ISBN 0-394-28157-8 Publisher Random House of Canada Nominations Scotiabank Giller Prize | 3.7/5 Goodreads Publication date 1996 Pages 294 Originally published 1996 Page count 294 Country Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The cure for death by lightning paper slide
The Cure for Death by Lightning is the debut novel from Canadian author Gail Anderson-Dargatz. It was nominated for the Giller Prize, was awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, and became a bestseller in Canada (selling over 100,000 copies) and Great Britain (where it won a Betty Trask Award).
Contents
Plot introduction
Set in an isolated farming community in Shuswap Country, British Columbia at the end of the Second World War it is a coming of age story containing elements of magic realism. Fifteen-year-old Beth Weeks has to contend with her family's struggle against poverty but also her increasingly paranoid and aggressive father whose behaviour leaves the family as outcasts in the community. A number of unusual characters appear in the book, including Filthy Billy a hired hand with tourettes and Nora a sensual half-Native girl whose mother has an extra little finger and a man's voice. The title of the book comes from one of a number of household tips and recipes belonging to her mother which appear as asides throughout the book, whilst the mother herself withdraws from reality and talks with her dead mother; leaving Beth to be sexually molested by her father...