The Night Stages

From one of Canada’s bestselling authors comes a stunning new novel of unusual emotional depth and compassion. Jane Urquhart’s richest, most rewarding novel to date.

Tam, an Englishwoman who served in World War II as an auxiliary pilot, was living on the remote, westerly shores of Ireland. But she’s decided to leave her lover, the meteorologist Niall, for New York City. During the journey, the airliner she is traveling on becomes grounded by heavy fog at Gander Airport in Newfoundland. Waiting for the fog to clear, she notices an enigmatic mural that moves her to revisit not only the circumstances that originally led her to Ireland but also her intense relationship with Niall and his growing despondency over the disappearance of his younger brother, Kieran, who, as a child, was separated from the family and taken in by a widowed countrywoman living in the mountains.

The Night Stages powerfully explores the meaning of separation, the sorrows of fractured families, and the profound effect of Ireland’s wild and elemental landscape on the lives shaped by its beauty.