Gross

by Dave Proctor

Meet Jackie: barista by day, an artist any other time she can get. Like many other 20somethings, Jackie’s life consists of freelance gigs, shift work, and ‘do-it-for-exposure’ creative projects as she strives to make art and rent. But after a traumatic phone call, Jackie now has to add something far more troubling to her to-do list: uncovering the strange circumstances which have led to her father Frank’s death by Lego. A lengthy coroner’s report of 144 items found in her father’s stomach — paint chips, light bulbs, Scrabble tiles — compels Jackie to sift through memories, tear through photo albums, and interview family and friends, searching for the ‘real’ Frank. Yet Jackie soon finds that as she reconstructs her father’s life, she redefines her own.

196 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2013