From their very first meeting, it would seem that Gwen and Tancred were made for one another. Like all good romances, Ring will bring them together. There is, of course, a wrinkle.

Gwenhwyfar's mother, Helen Odhiambo Lloyd, upon intuiting that her daughter is in love, gives her a ring. This ring has been passed down from endless generations of mothers to their daughters. And maybe the ring is magic. It grants the bearer the opportunity to change three things about her beloved. Like all blessings, this may also be a curse. Complete with a long narrative poem about Aphrodite, Ring turns the literary romance upside down and shakes out its pockets. It's a playful meditation on the past, on magic, on honor, on faith, and yes, on love.

Following on the heels of Pastoral, Fifteen Dogs, The Hidden Keys, and Days by Moonlight, Ring completes Alexis's Quincunx, a group of five genre-bending, philosophically sophisticated, and utterly delightful novels.

Ring, provoked by a reading of Harlequin romances, is a mash-up of romance novel conventions and a sunny meditation on the past, on language, on poetry, and yes, on love. (From Coach House Books)

André Alexis was born in Trinidad and grew up in Canada. His novel Fifteen Dogs received the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Writers' Trust Fiction Prize and won Canada Reads 2017, when it was defended by Humble the Poet. His other books include Childhood and Asylum.