Helpless (25 page)
FOR THEIR COUNSEL
and support I am grateful to Christopher Dewdney, Beth Kirkwood, Marni Jackson, Virginia de Vasconcelos, Jacqui Brady, Iris Tupholme, Sara Bershtel, Antje Kunstmann, Riva Hocherman, Richard Beswick, Christie Blatchford, and Police Constable Christopher Martin. I am particularly indebted to Superintendent Gary Ellis of the Toronto Police Service.
International Acclaim for
Helpless
“With razor-sharp emotional acuity, stoic detachment and incisive prose, Gowdy, one of Canada’s boldest writers, looks beyond preconceptions in pursuit of underlying truths.”
—
Ottawa Citizen
“Brilliant…Gowdy’s prose is, as usual, clean and precise. There is not a single word here that doesn’t further her story.”
—
Edmonton Journal
“An assured, perceptive, deftly delivered story.”
—
Kirkus Reviews
(Starred Review)
“Absorbing reading…[Gowdy’s] true feat is the sympathetic portrayal of Ron himself, a man who seems painfully unaware of his own dark impulses.”
—
Booklist
“Gowdy consistently zeros in on strange minds, on propositions of difference in consciousness, and then resolves them through a kind of sympathetic intervention.”
—
The Globe and Mail
“Through Gowdy’s fictional exploration we may exorcise our deepest fears.”
—
The Independent
“Gowdy’s seventh novel, a nail-biting tale of suspense, spells extra work for manicurists everywhere. Highly recommended.”
—
Library Journal
(Starred Review)
“Astonishing. We realize that it has been love, and nothing but love—Gowdy’s enduring subject—that has been driving this time bomb of a novel all along.”
—
The Vancouver Sun
“Gowdy writes as if she’s on a sinking boat and needs to throw out all the dead weight.”
—
The New York Times Book Review
“No one shades the darkness quite like Gowdy.”
—
Eye Weekly
The Romantic
The White Bone
Mister Sandman
We So Seldom Look on Love
Falling Angels
Through the Green Valley
Helpless
© 2007 by Barbara Gowdy. P.S. section © 2008 by Barbara Gowdy.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition © JUNE 2010 ISBN: 978-1-443-40249-1
Published by Harper Perennial, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Originally published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd: 2007
This trade paperback edition: 2008
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.
HARPER PERENNIAL®
is a registered trademark of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
“Yellow Bird,” lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. Music by Norman Luboff.
© 1957 (renewed) Threesome Music and Walton Music Corp. All rights on behalf of Threesome Music administered by WB Music Corp. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. and Walton Music Corp.
“Besame Mucho,” by Consuelo Velazquez © 1941 by Promotora Hispano Americana de Música. Copyright renewed. International copyright secured. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Administered by Peer International Corporation.
“My Immortal,” words and music by Ben Moody, Amy Lee and David Hodges. © 2003 Zombies Ate My Publishing, Forthefallen Publishing and Dwight Frye Music, Inc. Lyrics reprinted by permission of Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
HarperCollins books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use through our Special Markets Department.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Gowdy, Barbara Helpless : a novel / Barbara Gowdy.
I. Title.
PS8563.0883H44 2008 C813’.54 C2007-907028-0
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
25 Ryde Road (PO Box 321)
Pymble, NSW 2073, Australia
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Canada
2 Bloor Street East – 20th Floor
Toronto, ON, M4W 1A8, Canada
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.ca
New Zealand
HarperCollinsPublishers (New Zealand) Limited
P.O. Box 1
Auckland, New Zealand
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
77-85 Fulham Palace Road
London, W6 8JB, UK
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
10 East 53rd Street
New York, NY 10022
http://www.harpercollinsebooks.com