Last night, I went to talk to a great group of readers in Dartmouth. I don’t know what they call themselves. In the Globe and Mail, they were called Halifax Book Club, when ringleader Skana Gee emailed the paper’s new book club section to say her group was reading Homing.

Anyhow, they were great. They had high quality snacks, and even higher quality questions and remarks. It’s always a treat to meet a bunch of readers. I never fail to be amazed at how much they find in my book to like. It is humbling and strange and awesome.

It was equally strange, though, to be unable to answer some of their questions about specific moments in the books, or specific sentences or even characters’ names. It’s been so long now since Homing and I parted ways, that I am starting to lose the details, I think. I am so on to the next one that Homing is receding in the rear view mirror. Though talking about it again with a group for whom the story is so fresh was really, really great.

If I were to make a frequently asked questions section, for sure at the top of the list (SPOILER ALERT) would be “Why did the bird have to die?”

Why, indeed.

Hey, if your book club is reading Homing and would like to have me round to drink a glass of wine and try to answer your questions, or just generally, jovially, tell you about the long strange process of writing the book…get in touch! I’d be happy to drop by.