Helpless

---

Publishing Details

Classifications

Physical Properties

Description

A suspenseful and haunting novel of abduction and obsessive love, comparable to Ian McEwan's A CHILD IN TIME and John Fowles's THE COLLECTOR

Celia is the struggling single mother of an exceptionally, angelically beautiful child: nine-year-old Rachel. All too aware of the precarious balance of the life she has built for the two of them, she worries about her daughter's longing for the father she has never met. When Rachel disappears one summer night during a blackout, Celia is stricken with guilt and terror about what her choices might now mean for her daughter's fate.

The media coverage of the abduction is tremendous, running nationwide. Closely monitoring events is Ron, an appliance repairman who lives in the neighbourhood. Though Rachel is a stranger to him, he convinces himself that she is his responsibility. His feelings for her are at once tender, misguided and chillingly possessive. Tapping into the fears that lie just beneath the surface of modern urban life, HELPLESS is a haunting and provocative story of heart-stopping suspense.

Reviews

** 'From the accomplished Canadian novelist and short-story writer, an all-consuming tale of child abduction . . . An assured, perceptive, deftly delivered story' KIRKUS starred review

** 'Gowdy cleverly makes us wait for the kidnapping we know is coming, forcing us to watch as Ron moves closer and closer, like a shark circling its prey . . . A page-turner that finds tension not in the obvious question (Will Rachel be rescued), but in more personal ones: Will Rachel grow to trust Ron Will Ron give in to his yearnings Will Nancy betray Ron and help Rachel' NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW OF BOOKS

** 'Immensely well-observed . . . the acute psychological line demanded by material of this sort gets trodden with an unobtrusive delicacy' INDEPENDENT

** 'A thoughtful and elegantly written novel' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

** '...this Canadian writer tells a nail-biting story of child abduction with both skill and wonderful quirkiness' Lionel Shriver DAILY TELEGRAPH

** 'A striking feature of Gowdy's novel is the homage it pays to John Fowles's first novel, The Collector. Structurally and stylistically, however, Gowdy takes her own line. More conventional and much less chilling than Fowles's, the third-person narrative switches between the viewpoints of Celia, Ron and the essentially good-hearted Nancy. Gowdy is a graceful stylist with a strong inclination to explain her adult charact

Author Bio

Barbara Gowdy is a prize-winning Canadian author; the recipient of the Marian Engel Award in 1996, she has been a finalist for the Giller Prize, the Governor General's Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize, the Trillium Award and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

Author Location: Toronto

THE ROMANTIC; THE WHITE BONE; MISTER SANDMAN; WE SO SELDOM LOOK ON LOVE; FALLING ANGEL