Sheldon Currie plumbs new depths in this novel inspired by
Hugh MacLennan’s Two Solitudes. Ian MacDonald is searching
for himself, for a career, for home, and for redemption. Yet
Ian, a man with a talent for baseball, seems to find himself
in “the suicide squeeze” all too often as he runs from one
woman to another. Set in Nova Scotia and Quebec, Currie’s
novel follows Ian’s quest through his encounters with a torchsinging
nun, an old flame, and a woman who seeks more than
friendship.
As Ian struggles to find his place, for a time literally not
knowing who he is, Currie guides readers through a journey
full of eccentric but fully human characters, all trying to
live in worlds that do not always accommodate their dreams
and desires. Two More Solitudes resonates with the burdens
of memory, disappointment, uncertainty, death – and most
particularly with the pleasures and pains of life itself. At times
funny and poignant, Two More Solitudes is also a rich and
subtle exploration of how Ian and those around him find their
way – in the world, with themselves, and with others.