From Publishers Weekly Starred Review. Urquhart's passion for the past (The Stone Carvers) and the land (The Underpainters， winner of the Governor General's Award in Canada) are at full poetic play in this intricate story of love， loss and memory. Set in present-day Toronto and in the 19th-century world of rural Ontario timber barons， it opens with the wintry death of Alzheimer's sufferer Andrew， whose body， borne by an ice floe， runs aground on the small Lake Ontario island where artist Jerome McNaughton is seeking inspiration. The story steps back a century， to when Andrew's ancestors， owners of the same island， razed forests to build ships， then it jumps forward a year from the opening scene of Andrew's death， to when Sylvia， Andrew's married lover of 20 years， sets out to meet with Jerome， who discovered Andrew's body， and， through Jerome， to reconnect one last time with Andrew. Meanwhile， Jerome， the relationship-shy adult child of an abusive， alcoholic father， is slowly coming to trust that girlfriend Mira's love for him is real. Urquhart reveals all of their haunted personal histories in the lyrical first and third parts of the novel. But it's in the compact family-saga middle， where a slew of Andrew's memorable forebears take the stage， that this novel's luminous heart truly lies. (Mar.) Copyright © Reed Business Information， a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. From AudioFile There is an ethereal， dreamy quality in Hillary Huber's reading that is well suited to Urquhart's meditative novel about love， loss， and longing. The novel begins on remote Timber Island in Lake Ontario where a young artist named Jerome discovers the frozen body of Andrew Goodman， a geographer lately suffering from Alzheimer's. The story resumes a year later with the appearance of a strange woman named Sylvia， who claims to have been Andrew's longtime lover. Sylvia begins meeting with Jerome， relaying her past with Andrew as well as the story of Andrew's forebears on Timber Island. The book sometimes has the feel of epic poetry， an impression furthered by Huber's lyrical voicing. M.O. © AudioFile 2006， Portland， Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile， Portland， Maine --This text refers to the Audio CD edition. See all Editorial Reviews