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A Novel
by Paige Lewis
Two unlikely heroes embark on quests to win God's favor in this outrageously entertaining, profoundly heartfelt novel that announces an ingenious new voice in the tradition of Chain-Gang All-Stars, No One Is Talking About This, and Martyr!
Yara can't comprehend why God has chosen them to slay Dominic, the ruthless leader of the army of Bad Guys. Cast out by their family and reeling from a destructive relationship, Yara has never felt weaker—but with nothing left to lose, they strike a deal. Abandoning their solitary days of embroidery and obsessive cleaning, Yara reluctantly embarks on a perilous odyssey designed to prepare them for the daunting mission ahead.
Meanwhile, Adrena, a disillusioned prophet with a terrifying secret power, is determined to become the hero of this story. Desperately seeking the glory of God's approval and the promise of heaven, where she hopes to reunite with her beloved mother, Adrena must first persuade Harpo, the leader of the Good Guys, that her plan is God's will.
As their journeys unfold in a series of unforgettable adventures, Yara and Adrena are propelled toward each other and transformative revelations about life, death, and destiny in this intensely captivating, irreverent epic from a singularly brilliant new voice in fiction.
"Lewis is questioning narrative, but their story is all cool assurance. A brash, informed, and funny anti-epic." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"[A]stonishing... This is sublime." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Turning the hero's quest on its head, Lewis' unique story features intriguing characters and a worthy examination of purpose and heroism." —Booklist
"Brilliant…. Lewis is both nodding to the Western texts that serve as the novel's foundation, and offering an audacious mission statement: that something original can indeed be made from used parts. It can also be funny, chaotic, warm, and impossible to put down." —The Brooklyn Rail
"Canon is an odd duck of a novel in the best way possible—it's a polyphonic, meta, hilarious epic that recontextualizes the hero's journey for modern audiences. If you like books that bend conventions and expand your mind, look no further than Paige Lewis's first foray into fiction." —The Chicago Review of Books
"I promise that you have never read a book like Canon. It's a scorchingly brilliant, wildly funny, and deeply moving epic. I loved it so much that upon finishing Canon, I immediately began rereading it." —John Green, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything is Tuberculosis
"An unprecedented page-turner ... I wish I could spend a thousand more pages with the narrator of Canon, whose keenness, kindness, associative brilliance, storytelling authority, and crow-black humor make every line of this utterly singular novel a surprise and a delight ... Canon filled me with overwhelming joy, joy that such an extraordinary story exists." —Karen Russell, bestselling author of The Antidote
This information about Canon was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Paige Lewis is the author of the poetry collection Space Struck and coeditor of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance. Lewis teaches at the University of Iowa; Canon is their first novel.
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