Coq by Ali Bryan

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 novelRoost, Ali Bryan explores thorny family dynamics with her trademark offbeat humour and insight.Coqis a darkly comedic contemporary family drama that explores grief, identity, and second chances in the one-and-only City of Love. (From Freehand Books)

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Ali Bryan is a writer from Nova Scotia. Herfirst novel,Roost, won the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction.Her second novel,The Figgs, wasshortlistedforStephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humourin 2019. Her novelThe Crow Valley Karaoke Championshipsis also forthcomingin 2023.

Interviews with Ali Bryan