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This is How We Love

Award-winning author Lisa Moores latest novel explores the complexities of familial relationships.

Lisa Moore

A colourful waterpaint landscape with white lettering reading This is How We Love by Lisa Moore.

As the snowstorm of the century rages toward Newfoundland, 21-year-old Xavier is beaten and stabbed in a vicious attack. His mother, Jules, must fight her way through the shuttered streets of St. John's to reach the hospital where Xavier lies unconscious. When a video of the attack surfaces, Jules struggles to make sense of what she sees in the footage and of what she can't quite make out. While Xavier's story unfolds, so, too, do the stories that brought him there. Here, across families and generations, are stories of mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers; of children cared for, neglected, lost, and re-found; of selfless generosity and reluctant debt. (From House of Anansi Press)

Lisa Moore is a Canadian writer from Newfoundland.Her books includeCaught, February, Alligator, Open and Something for Everyone. She has been nominated for the Scotiabank Giller Prize three times: in 2002 for Open, in 2005 for Alligatorand in 2013 for Caught. Her novelFebruarywonCanada Readsin 2013.

From the book

Xavier saw the streetlight blink in and out, over a shoulder, over the top of the heads, shafts of light, sharp and then splintering. He could see the side of a cheek, fists, the cuff of a jacket. He knew they were trying to murder him. He was waiting for it. They were landing blow after blow and his face was snapping this way and that, fists, two knees on his shoulders, someone pinning his legs and feet. Any pain from the knife was delayed. It came long after the knife.

The knife came twice. He expected it many times more. But the whole thing was interrupted.He didn't pass out when the boot stamped on his head, though his vision closed to a pinpoint. He could direct the pinpoint, like looking through the keyhole in a door, but it also had a mind of its own. It floated a few inches away from what he was trying to see.

He didn't see the knife. The knife came when he was being kicked in the head. He saw the boot coming and confused the sensation of the knife with the kick to his skull. There was a synaptic misfire and he felt the knife slide through his skull. But it had punctured his jeans and skin and maybe organs and wasn't anywhere near his head. It went deep. He could hardly believe it happened twice but at the same time he believed it.

Xavier heard the sirens. A roar of excitement went up each time the knife sank into him. The roar went up twice and was all the world like waves crashing on a beach, is what it sounded like.


From This is How We Love by Lisa Moore 2021. Published by House of Anansi Press.

Interviews with Lisa Moore

Lisa Moore talks to Shelagh Rogers about her new book, This is How We Love.
The Newfoundland writer, whose most recent book is the YA novel "Flannery," shares her favourite fictional character, her greatest fear and more.
"Caught" author Lisa Moore (Interview)

Lisa Moore wins mid-career Writers' Trust prize

11 years ago
Duration 1:14
St. John's writer Lisa Moore discusses her Writers' Trust win and an exciting literary awards season

Other books by Lisa Moore

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