Canwood, Saskatchewan, 1947. Leonard Flint, a lonely boy in a small farming town befriends the local tramp, a man known as Rabbit Foot Bill. Bill doesn't talk much, but he allows Leonard to accompany him as he sets rabbit snares and to visit his small, secluded dwelling.

Being with Bill is everything to young Leonard—an escape from school, bullies and a hard father. So his shock is absolute when he witnesses Bill commit a sudden violent act and loses him to prison.

Fifteen years on, as a newly graduated doctor of psychiatry, Leonard arrives at the Weyburn Mental Hospital, both excited and intimidated by the massive institution known for its experimental LSD trials. To Leonard's great surprise, at the Weyburn he is reunited with Bill and soon becomes fixated on discovering what happened on that fateful day in 1947. (From HarperCollins Publishers)

Helen Humphreys is a novelist and poet from Kingston, Ont. Her novels include The Evening Chorus, which was nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award, The Lost Garden, which was defended on Canada Reads in 2003 by Mag Ruffman, Afterimage, Leaving Earth and Machine Without Horses. She is also the author of the memoir Nocturne and the the book of essays The Ghost Orchard. She is a past recipient of the Harbourfront Festival Prize for literary excellence.