Coq: A Novel
From the jacket…
From Leacock finalist Ali Bryan, Coq is a witty and immensely fun dramedy about a family’s memorial trip to the City of Love, where chaos ensues at every turn.
It’s been ten years since Claudia’s mother died after a tragic collision with a banana boat. Her kids are now teenagers, her brother’s wife has left him, and her ex has had a spiritual awakening that has him hinting at reconciliation — all things she can handle.
But when her septuagenarian father decides to remarry after a brief courtship with a woman who is decidedly different than their mother, the entire family is thrown off course, and plans a long overdue memorial trip to the only place their mother ever dreamed of going: Paris. However, minutes after take-off, the trip takes an unpredictable turn and sets off a chain of events that threatens to derail the closure the family desperately seeks.
Chance meetings, poolside confessions, run-ins with mimes, climate protests, and a man with a death wish force Claudia to reconsider everything she thought she knew about love, both the familial and the romantic, the tragic and the sublime. How well do we really know those closest to us? And how well do we really know ourselves? In this follow-up to her award-winning novel Roost, Ali Bryan explores thorny family dynamics with her trademark offbeat humour and insight. Coq is a darkly comedic contemporary family drama that explores grief, identity, and second chances in the one-and-only City of Love.
Coming May 1, 2023
5.5 x 8.5 paperback
288 pages
ISBN
CDN/US
Available in print and mobile formats:
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Praise for Coq
“Coq is a transcendentally, astonishingly funny book about family, grief, and love and Ali Bryan is, without question, one of the most talented humour writers working in Canada today.” ~ Susan Juby, Author of the Leacock winning novel, Republic of Dirt
“When I read Ali Bryan’s Roost, I didn’t want it to end. With Coq, we get a chance to re-enter Ali’s warm, hilarious, awkwardly familiar world of characters who feel as close as our own family members, this time in a place we all love to be – Paris. This is a difficult and harrowing time to be alive. Coq is true, smart, and enormously fun.” ~ Todd Babiak, Award-winning author
