The Union of Smokers

Longlisted for the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour

Huckleberry Finn meets The Catcher in the Rye meets Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in this outlandish debut novel.

Kaspar Pine begins his day with a simple task: replace a pet canary.
By day’s end, as Kaspar is being loaded into an ambulance, he delivers
one hell of a theme essay, covering such subjects as his ability to
source and catalogue the cigarette butts he harvests; information on
maintaining the social order of chickens, along with general and
historic farming details that run from Saskatchewan to Ontario;
insinuating himself between other kids and people who wish to do them
harm; fire marshalling; and his inability to maintain an essayist’s cool
detachment in the face of unrequited first love. The Union of Smokers details the heartfelt and heroic last day in the life of a reluctant, irreverent, and oddly wise hero.

A narrative voice that gets in your head and proves unforgettable,
[and] a story that manages to be utterly devastating and uplifting at
once. –Kerry Clare