Description: In the imaginative vein of Carol Shields and Margaret Atwood, Down There By the Train is a witty and wistful novel, brimming with comic misunderstanding and metaphorical brilliance. Upon being paroled from prison, where he was serving time for an unfortunate misunderstanding, Levon Hawke heads to his old friend Sweeney's diner. There, he learns of the suspicious history of the unnamed island where he has been offered a job at his cousin's bakery. Lulled by Sweeney's stories and the warmth of the diner, he misses the only ferry. But provisioned with doughnuts and Sweeney's map, Levon sets out across the frozen lake, alone and in failing light. Arriving at the wrong end of the island, Levon stumbles upon a ruined house. Behind the door awaits tall, red-haired Obdulia Limb, grieving for her dead mother, making poisoned tea, and burning the Encyclopedia Britannica to keep warm. Soon, Obdulia's octogenarian femme fatale of a stepmother and her overbearing father try to involve Levon in a comically gruesome conspiracy to cure Obdulia of her grief. But love has other plans. Praise for the U.K. edition:

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