Here Comes the Dreamer

Fiction. Alastair Luce is a dreamer, and a Canadian expat in the 1950s who lives in a New York City suburb with his wife, Nora, a passionate American who misses the excitement of wartime life and finds an outlet—and a lover—during the Red scare. Alastair's an artist, a quiet man who paints houses for a living, fears atomic holocaust, drinks too much and worries about his suffering child, Grace. Just before an accident that kills his daughter's best friend, he offers a ride to teenage neighbour Claire, who continues the story as a witness to tragedy, an observer of suburban mores and compassionate friend of Alastair, whose talent and politics she has long admired. Yet in the era of Vietnam, she's not prepared for his love or his anguish as she marries and leaves for Canada. In Toronto, it's Alastair's exiled daughter Grace, an artist who works to "burn" the city down with colour, who resents Claire for hurting her dad, and still grieves the loss of her friend. Yet Grace, Claire and Alastair are bound together by their history, and a crisis draws their painful stories to a climax.