Norman Bray in the Performance of His Life

Trevor Cole

Image | BOOK COVER: Norman Bray in the Performance of His Life by Trevor Cole

For years, Toronto stage actor Norman Bray has renounced all responsibility in the name of his "art." Now, middle-aged, teetering on the edge of financial ruin, and clinging to the faded light of his career, Norman must answer to the bank, to the adult children of his recently deceased common-law wife, and, most of all, to his own illusions about himself. Making matters worse, Amy, his stepdaughter-of-a-sort, discovers her late mother's journals and the unhappiness they contain. Meanwhile, Norman finds himself embroiled in the affairs of an attractive neighbour, with unexpected consequences. Highly original, skewering, hilarious, humane, Trevor Cole's brilliant debut looks at the precarious ties of love and family and the plight of a man who has reached the end of the line — and has only himself to blame. (From McClelland & Stewart)

From the book

Watch the man being seated at a table in the middle of the Skelton Arms pub. He has been shown a table to the side, but no, he prefers the one in the middle, so that is where he sits. His name is Norman Bray. You won't have heard of it before, although that fact might surprise him.

From Norman Bray in the Performance of His Life by Trevor Cole ©2005. Published by McClelland & Stewart.