Light on a Part of the Field

by Kevin Holowack

A multigenerational family tale of art, splintering, and finding one’s self.

In his evocative debut novel, Light on a Part of the Field, Kevin Holowack introduces us to a family grappling with artistic ambition, mental illness, and rifts that may not be possible to mend. Set in B.C. and Alberta in the 1960s and 1970s, this is a novel of finely observed vignettes offering a refracted look at art and family in the mid-century West. A young artist, Ruth, and her obsessive husband are struck by lightning, an experience that throws their lives into a universe of intense beauty and angst. Years later, Ruth lives on a farm her husband bought before his mysterious disappearance, and she creates idyllic but unremarkable paintings to cope with her confusion and loss. Then, without warning, her eldest daughter Gayle is love-struck by a travelling stranger and runs off to Edmonton where she too must contend with poverty, sickness, and her father’s upsetting legacy. Meanwhile, farm-bound Ruth becomes more frantic in her work and begins longing for human contact as her house and animals disintegrate around her. As Gayle and Ruth seek new ways of connecting in order to remedy their unsettling family legacy, they begin a complicated process of renewal and must decide whether they can reconcile despite all the pain they have caused one another.

ADDITIONAL SALES POINTS

• Book will appeal to those who enjoy books about artists and multigenerational family tales.

MARKETING PLAN

• Early ARC and international press release mailout. • Announcement of book’s release by email newsletter and on the NeWest Press Facebook, Instragram, and Twitter pages. • Podcast reading/interview posted on iTunes, RSS feed, Facebook, and NeWest website. • Press releases and review mailouts to various CBC outlets across the nation, both radio and television. • Submit to all eligible awards. • Ads in subTerrain, Alberta Views, Prairie Books Now, CNQ: Canadian Notes and Queries, Glass Buffalo, PRISM international, and Prairie Fire. • Launch events in Edmonton and Vancouver, as well as online. Trade Paperback / May 1, 2021

isbn 10: 1-77439-014-6

isbn 13: 978-177439-014-6

BISAC 1: FIC045000 BISAC 2: FIC019000 BISAC 3: FIC044000

Part of the Nunatak First Fiction Series, Canada’s longest-running debut fiction series. Notable Nunatak titles include Chorus of Mushrooms by Hiromi Goto; Icefields by Thomas Wharton; Dance, Gladys, Dance by Cassie Stocks; The Shore Girl by Fran Kimmel; and Molly of the Mall by Heidi L.M. Jacobs.

About The Author

Kevin Holowack is a writer from Edmonton who has his M.A. in English from the University of Alberta. He has lived in various places across Canada and Europe. His work has been published in Glass Buffalo and Lemon Hound.

328 pp / 6 x 9 / $21.95 cdn $16.95 usd

MARKETS

• National trade: literary fiction • US and UK trade: literary fiction • Edmonton, AB, and rural B.C.

COMPARISON TITLES

• Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout (978-0-812971-83-5, Random House, 2008) • Dual Citizens by Alix Ohlin (978-1-487004-86-6, House of Anansi Press, 2019) • When the Saints by Sarah Mian (978-1-443431-07-1, HarperCollins Canada, 2015)