Instructions for the Drowning

(Paperback)

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

To say Heighton is an immensely talented writer is true enough but insufficient ... As good a writer as Canada has ever produced.
National Post

The unforgettable last collection by the bestselling author of The Shadow Boxer

A man recalls his father's advice on how to save a drowning person, but struggles when the time comes to use it. A wifes good deed leaves a couple vulnerable at the moment when theyre most in need of securitythe birth of their first child. Newly in love, a man preoccupied by accounts of freak accidents is befallen by one himself. In stories about love and fear, idealisms and illusions, failures of muscle and mind and all the ways we try to care for one another, Steven Heightons Instructions for the Drowning is an indelible last collection by a writer working at the height of his powers.

Reviews

Praise forInstructions for the Drowning

"This last collection is one to be savoured."
Toronto Star

"InInstructions for the Drowning, however, he uses his poets precision, his depth as a novelist, and his intimacy as a memoirist to give us a glimpse of the closure he may have hoped forfor himself, for his characters, and also for his readers."
The Walrus

"A remarkable book by an unparalleled literary talent."
Steven Beattie, Quill & Quire (starred)

"Heighton will go down as one of the brightest stars in Canadian literary history."
FreeFall Magazine

"Masterful ... the Joycean stories collected inInstructions for the Drowningare searing reminders: that the other side of rage is a vale of tears."
Foreword Reviews(starred)

"Instructions for the Drowningis a short story collection explores themes of love and fear, delusion and idealism and the ironic ways we come up short despite trying our very best."
CBC Books

"As Instructions for the Drowning pulls readers into lifes most vulnerable moments, the power and depth of Heightons talents shine through each page."
Toronto Life

"In these 11 expertly constructed and memorable short stories, he excels at capturing his subjects at moments of maximum stress, in the process illuminating different aspects of the human character."
Shelf Awareness

As a poet and later as fiction writer Steven Heighton had this stunning range of voice in his stories. He would go anywhere. He always surprised you. His death as a still young writer is a tragedy and a great loss. He was a writer who grew so much with each book. You could always witness it happening.
Michael Ondaatje, author ofWarlightandThe English Patient

"Steven Heighton is one of our most ethical, profound writers. These stories face delusion and illumination, rebellion and surrender, they shock with their beauty and their understanding. The characters, living and dead, are gatherers of knowledge yet the deepest parts of themselves come alive in all they cannot know. Heighton leaves us an unforgettable work that, through its rigour and exactitude, finds within itself a desperately moving liberation."
Madeleine Thien, author ofDo Not Say We Have Nothing

Author Bio

Steven Heighton (19612022) was a writer and musician. His nineteen previous books include the novels Afterlands, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, and the bestselling The Shadow Boxer; the Writers' Trust Hilary Weston Prize finalist memoir Reaching Mithymna: Among the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos; and The Waking Comes Late, winner of the Governor General's Award for Poetry.