Halifax • 2021-11-23
The latest and long-awaited novel by Halifax resident, Afterwords Literary Festival board member, and former Wayves contributor Stephens Malone will be launched on December 1st in Halifax’s north end.
The sprawling work of historical fiction follows Rain, a veteran of the Great War who is lured into the intricate and lavish world of landscape gardening and finds himself travelling the world to create magnificent gardens for clients and, eventually, for the pictures during Hollywood’s Golden Age. But the nomadic nature of his work is also a way for him to chase his unrequited love, Lily. From war-torn Europe to Old Hollywood, this stunning novel from the master wordsmith behind the critically acclaimed Big Town and I Still Have a Suitcase in Berlin is a lyrical, magical, and starkly realist meditation on the dissonant worlds that emerge from conflict, and the lengths we’ll go to chase the illusion of love.
"Gay content? Well, there's the author," says Malone, "and my previous work, I Still Have a Suitcase in Berlin is about as gay a book as you can write, but in this one, a very drunk and mouthy Tallulah Bankhead makes an appearance, so that’s something!"
The book launch for The History Of Rain is Wednesday, December 1, 7:00 to 8:30PM at Open Book Coffee, 3660 Strawberry Hill St, Halifax.
