A Crack in the Map: a novel in pieces – Alexina Dalgetty
ISBN: 9781911540298
£13.99
Out in June — pre-order here
Told in multiple voices over the course of one-hundred and twenty-five years, A Crack in the Map is the evocative and immersive story of a house and its residents. From an elegant and simple premise, three time lines are spun: The stories of Jake, Lydia, and Lucy as the nineteenth century gives way to the twentieth; of Miriam and Lenny, whose time in the house spans the mid twentieth to early twenty-first century and of Rosie and Steve in the present. Each overlaid with the voice of the house itself, with its own perspective on life and death, shelter and material existence. Inventive, linguistically deft, pushing at boundaries of form and narrative. A Crack in the Map can be read in a myriad of ways, giving readers a kaleidoscope of viewpoints. ‘A novel in pieces’, written in glistening, embodied prose A Crack in the Map explores what we mean by home and security, how place keeps memory, how stories are told and how ownership excludes young people from shelter.
A moving, enchanting and riveting second novel from a distinctive and innovative writer.
Author biography
Alexina Dalgetty has previously written short stories and plays. A Cleaning Woman’s Daughter is her debut novel.
She has also waitressed a lot. For many years Alexina worked with Theatre of the Oppressed techniques. In 1993 she co-founded an alternate high school, inspired by TO, for youth who had not experienced success in school. It remains in operation.
Born in Sheringham in Norfolk, Alexina grew up in Luton, Bedfordshire, and currently lives in Camrose, Alberta, in Treaty 6 territory, on the traditional and ancestral territory of the Cree, Dene, Blackfoot, Salteaux and Dakota Sioux.