Confession

by Lee Gowan

From this award-winning, acclaimed writer comes a searingly powerful novel that portrays how one fateful, brutal day in the life a young prairie man reverberates far beyond imagining – a brilliant portrayal of the struggle between fate and faith.

In the suffocating town of Broken Head, Saskatchewan, Dwight Froese confesses to having killed his father in a duel, maintaining that he was avenging the murder of his mother, whose body had been found floating in a nearby creek the day before. But when the coroner rules the woman’s death an accident, Dwight’s certainty is shattered. In the explosive tale that follows, he attempts to reconcile the violent legacy he has inherited with what it will take to forge a new life for himself – and the complicated relationships with the various townspeople that develop as a result.

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 20, 2009

About the author

Lee Gowan is the author of the novels Confession, The Last Cowboy, (published in France as Jusqu’au bout du ciel), and Make Believe Love, which was nominated for the Trillium Award for best book in Ontario. He also published the critically acclaimed story collection Going to Cuba, and wrote the award-winning screenplay for Paris or Somewhere. He is the Program Director for Creative Writing and Business Communications at the School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto. His latest novel The Beautiful Place was published in 2021.

Reviews

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved it and couldn't put it down. I think I would like to read it again sometime to try to get a better sense of the religious references, as I felt lost sometimes related to these.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aply named Confession, the book jumps from one person & time to another. But overall, I really liked it because it represented the Prairies quite accurately I thought!

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this witty and sad book. How many people does it take to screw up one man's life and is God involved? Have I mentioned that I want to be Russian.

[Vicki · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was interested enough to finish it. Although, I found it hard to feel empathy for the main charater, even though it was obvious that his childhood wasn't all too great.