Claire's Head
CBC Books | Posted: August 8, 2018 8:13 PM | Last Updated: August 30, 2018
Catherine Bush
On a quiet June morning, Toronto cartographer Claire Barber receives a phone call telling her that her sister Rachel, a freelance medical journalist living in New York, seems to have vanished. Last heard from while on assignment in Montreal, Rachel cancelled a trip to visit her six-year-old daughter, who lives with Claire's middle sister, in Toronto. Among the many fears that haunt Claire as she begins to track Rachel's whereabouts is that Rachel';s worsening migraines have pushed her beyond her limits.
As Claire disrupts her orderly life to follow news of Rachel to Montreal, to Amsterdam, to Italy, and, ultimately, to Las Vegas and Mexico in the company of Rachel's ex-lover, Brad, she enters a world of neurologists and New Age healers. Struggling with her own headaches, Claire embarks on what becomes an emotional journey, one that brings to the fore her parents' sudden death eight years earlier. It also reveals the heightening tensions in her relationship with her partner, Stefan, portraying along the way long-held secrets from the past as well as the uniquely complex and irreplaceable bond between sisters. What Claire comes to discover will set her life on a new course. (From Emblem Editions)
As Claire disrupts her orderly life to follow news of Rachel to Montreal, to Amsterdam, to Italy, and, ultimately, to Las Vegas and Mexico in the company of Rachel's ex-lover, Brad, she enters a world of neurologists and New Age healers. Struggling with her own headaches, Claire embarks on what becomes an emotional journey, one that brings to the fore her parents' sudden death eight years earlier. It also reveals the heightening tensions in her relationship with her partner, Stefan, portraying along the way long-held secrets from the past as well as the uniquely complex and irreplaceable bond between sisters. What Claire comes to discover will set her life on a new course. (From Emblem Editions)
From the book
When the phone rang, Claire was upstairs in her study, drawing the shoreline of Lake Ontario by hand. She liked to test her recall of the intricate patterns of coasts and shores — every inlet and promontory. As she picked up the phone, she noted the time, 3:42 in the afternoon. She was aware of her coordinates: she faced east, the window to her right, south, open just a crack, perhaps four centimetres.
From Claire's Head by Catherine Bush ©2004. Published by Emblem Editions.