Mr. Jones

by Margaret Sweatman

Winner, Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction
Shortlisted, McNally Robinson Book of the Year and Relit Award (Novel)

Award-winning author Margaret Sweatman has proven herself a virtuoso writer of historical fiction. Yet nothing she has written can prepare you for Mr. Jones.

Emmett Jones is adrift. Having firebombed civilians as a pilot during World War II, Emmett searches for something to cling to when life loses focus. Post-war, he becomes compulsively drawn to John Norfield, a former POW who has found his focus in communism.

Set in a time of rampant paranoia, Mr. Jones peels back the veneer of Canadian politics to reveal a nation willing to sacrifice its own. It is a fearful time, a time of "peace" at the onset of the nuclear age.

Emmett's existence comes under scrutiny. His relationship with Norfield makes him a target of security forces. His marriage, his job, even his child are the target of investigation. And as the nuclear arms race heats up, Mr. Jones sets himself on a path that will risk the lives of everyone he holds dear.

Evoking the classic works of le Carr and Greene, Sweatman's novel is a shattering exploration of a past where world governments threaten annihilation while training housewives in the proper techniques for sweeping up radioactive dust.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0864929145
• ISBN13: 9780864929143
• Release Date: September 2014
• Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
• Length: 484 Pages
• Weight: 1.41 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 5.1" x 8.1"