Elizabeth Hay unveils new novel

It's been four years since Elizabeth Hay's Late Nights on Air won the Giller Prize and the Ottawa author is preparing to launch another novel.

She offered a sneak peek of her novel  Alone in the Classroom on Thursday in a reading on CBC Radio ahead of the official launch of the book in Ottawa.

The new book begins at small prairie school in 1929 and extends to the Ottawa Valley of present day, where a young woman becomes curious about her adventurous aunt, a schoolteacher. Beginning with a triangle involving a teacher, principal and student, she uncovers the history of obsessive love and hate that lies in her family's past.

Hay was born in Owen Sound, Ont., and spent 10 years as a broadcaster with CBC Radio in Yellowknife, Winnipeg, and Toronto before turning her talents to writing fiction.

Her 2001 book A Student of Weather was a finalist for the Giller Prize and the Ottawa Book Award, while 2004's Garbo Laughs won an Ottawa Book Award and was a finalist for the Governor General's Literary Award. Hay has also published a story collection, Small Change.

Alone in the Classroom is published by McClelland & Stewart.