Words At Large

Family, betrayal, glory, and madness —The Last Crossing has it all

Posted by Kimberly Walsh on August 27 at 08:00 AM

Guy Vanderhaeghe’s novel The Last Crossing (McClelland &Stewart) is full of eccentric characters. It’s set in the late 19th century in what will eventually become the Canadian West.

After months of searching for his missing twin, Charles Gaunt is almost at the end of his rope. His older brother Addington is behaving even more outrageously than usual, adopting a great hunter act that hides a vicious streak Charles does his best to avoid. Most of the other members of the search party are sure Simon is dead and Charles’s only comfort is Lucy Stoveall.

Episode 16: Charles and Lucy try to go to a ball at Fort Edmonton.





Episode 17: Addington Gaunt meets his grizzly bear.





Episode 18: Charles meets someone who knows what happened to Simon.





Each episode of Between the Covers is between 15 and 17 minutes. If you missed previous podcasts you can download them at the Between the Covers podcasts. If you’re interested in readings of other Canadian books, check out the Hear A Reading page on the Between the Covers site.

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