Stirred by a series of found photographs, critically acclaimed author Cary Fagan brilliantly imagines the lost stories behind them in this dazzling story collection.
Many years ago the photographs in this book became separated from their original owners, faces unrecognized, settings a mystery. They floated through this world, as if on a sorrowful wind… I have given them stories to replace the ones they have lost.
So begins the bewitching new collection from acclaimed author Cary Fagan, and a journey into a world that is both achingly familiar and wonderfully strange. A man hangs onto a runaway horse. A woman paints in the nude. A child sparks a revolution. These stories, each inspired by a found photograph, are by turns realistic and surreal, bloody and tender, delightful and appalling.
Here are stories that playfully vary in technique and form: monologues, dialogues, interviews, letters, transcripts, tall tales, and capsule histories form a single portrait, belonging — in the words of the author — “to one history, found in an album that might belong to any of us.” Fagan paints a portrait of re-imagined lives that is comic and tragic, profound and unforgettable. The beauty, humour, and the horror of days gone by haunt these pages and resonate in the world we find ourselves in today.
Stirred by a series of found photographs, critically acclaimed author Cary Fagan brilliantly imagines the lost stories behind them in this dazzling story collection.
Many years ago the photographs in this book became separated from their original owners, faces unrecognized, settings a mystery. They floated through this world, as if on a sorrowful wind… I have given them stories to replace the ones they have lost.
So begins the bewitching new collection from acclaimed author Cary Fagan, and a journey into a world that is both achingly familiar and wonderfully strange. A man hangs onto a runaway horse. A woman paints in the nude. A child sparks a revolution. These stories, each inspired by a found photograph, are by turns realistic and surreal, bloody and tender, delightful and appalling.
Here are stories that playfully vary in technique and form: monologues, dialogues, interviews, letters, transcripts, tall tales, and capsule histories form a single portrait, belonging — in the words of the author — “to one history, found in an album that might belong to any of us.” Fagan paints a portrait of re-imagined lives that is comic and tragic, profound and unforgettable. The beauty, humour, and the horror of days gone by haunt these pages and resonate in the world we find ourselves in today.
| Published By | House of Anansi Press Inc — Mar 18, 2017 |
| Specifications | 304 pages | 5.25 in x 8 in |
| Keywords | experimental; storytelling; award winning author; books based on old photographs; day to day life; collection; families; relationships; humour; humor; jewish literature; canlit; a bird's eye; act normal; greg hollingshead; miss peregrine; pallbearing; michael melgaard; path of most resistance; gifts for dad; fathers day; |
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Supporting Resources
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Excerpt |
| Written By |
CARY FAGAN writes books for children and adults. He has won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature, the Jewish Book Award, the IODE Jean Throop Book Award and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, among others. His picture books include A Cage Went in Search of a Bird, illustrated by Banafsheh Erfanian, and Son of Happy, illustrated by Milan Pavlović, which was named one of the Best Canadian Picture Books of 2020 by CBC Books. Cary lives with his family in Toronto. |
| Written By |
|
CARY FAGAN writes books for children and adults. He has won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children’s Literature, the Jewish Book Award, the IODE Jean Throop Book Award and the Marilyn Baillie Picture Book Award, among others. His picture books include A Cage Went in Search of a Bird, illustrated by Banafsheh Erfanian, and Son of Happy, illustrated by Milan Pavlović, which was named one of the Best Canadian Picture Books of 2020 by CBC Books. Cary lives with his family in Toronto. |
“[A] clever and funny experiment in storytelling” —Quill and Quire
“Charming, funny, and sad.” —The National Post
“Inspired by a trove of found photographs, this new collection of short fiction by the Toronto author embarks on flights of fancy both marvellous and macabre.” —Readers Digest Canada
“Fagan's clever and wide-ranging stories put the act of imagining front and center.” —Kirkus Reviews
“I absolutely loved this collection of very short stories inspired by a series of wonderful found photographs. Cary Fagan has a real ear for dialogue and a way of making each perfectly formed vignette surprising, whether that’s taking a surreal turn in ‘We Have to Be Careful,’ introducing the macabre in ‘Who I’ve Come For,’ or quietly breaking my heart, in ‘Where We Are Now.’” —Claire Fuller, author of Swimming Lessons
“What a dazzlingly imaginative thing to do — Cary Fagan has taken a group of orphaned photographs from the past and turned them into a cabinet of wonders! Inventive, satisfying, and deft, The Old World gets right to the heart of the storytelling craft.” —Marni Jackson, author of Don’t I Know You?