New Releases by Al Purdy

A Splinter in the Heart, Al Purdy''s only novel, provides a vivid picture of Purdy''s childhood home of Trenton, Ontario, in the final days of the First World War. On Thanksgiving Day in 1918, Trenton was devastated by a fire and explosion at a munitions factory owned by the British Chemical Company, the town''s one big employer. All of the action in A Splinter in the Heart anticipates this cataclysm. As disaster looms, Purdy takes Patrick Cameron, his awkward and undistinguished teenage hero, through the usual elements of adolescence: he falls in love; he takes up long-distance running; his mother is courted by Trenton''s firebrand preacher; his ancient grandfather, Marshall "Portugee" Cameron, dies.

MANY OF PURDY''S FAMILIAR THEMES ARE HERE--HIS EMPATHY FOR FOREIGN PLACES AND DISTANT TIMES, HIS AFFECTION FOR LOSERS AND OUTSIDERS, HIS FASCINATION WITH PRE-HISTORY AND THE FRAGMENTED RECORDS OF DEAD CIVILIZATIONS.

Poems by poets not yet widely known. Contains photos and biographical information.

Poems.