D. W. Wilson Livres

Shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize 2012In the remote Kootenay Valley in western Canada, good people sometimes do bad things. Two adolescents sabotage a rope swing; a heartbroken young man chooses not to warn his best friend about an approaching car; sons challenge their fathers.Crackling with tension and propelled by jagged, cutting dialogue, D.W. Wilson's stories reveal to us how our best intentions can be doomed to fail or injure, how our loves can fall short or mislead us. An intoxicating cocktail of adrenaline and vulnerability, doggedness and dignity, Once You Break a Knuckle explores the courage it takes to make it through another day.

It is summer and the Canadian Rockies are on fire. Fleeing the fallout of a failed relationship, Alan West returns to his grandfather's home in the Kootenay Valley. Cecil West, an old man confronted by his own mortality, asks Alan to track down his son, Alan's father, so that Cecil can make his peace with him. And so Alan begins his search for Jack West: a man who skipped town before Alan could walk. His quest will lead him to Archer, an American soldier who long ago went AWOL across the border. The young man and the old soldier set off on a reckless journey. What they find will change their lives forever.

Alan West möchte eigentlich seine Abschlussarbeit und sein Liebesdrama beenden, doch ein Herzinfarkt seines Großvaters zwingt ihn, mit dessen Freund Archer und dem Hund Puck eine abenteuerliche Reise durch die Rockies zu unternehmen. Diese Fahrt konfrontiert Archer mit seiner Vergangenheit und Alan mit seiner Herkunft.