Timothy Findley is a favourite author of mine: even in the books of his I don’t particularly enjoy (i.e. Headhunter) I find myself in awe of his storytelling ability and the quality of his words. In Spadework Findley uses his uncanny skill to his utmost, weaving together some of his favourite topics (family, infidelity, theater, love, beauty) with a small-town murder mystery, and in doing so creates one of his finest novels.

A severed phone line destroys a half-dozen lives. A family is torn apart by blackmail and ambition. A man is driven to murder. A boy separates himself from the real world. An actor succumbs to ambition. A wife and mother is drawn to an angelic, child-like man. All set against the background of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. It’s a credit to Findley’s story that it is so intertwined with the works of Shakespeare and yet it still stands strong in comparison.

Straightforward but by no means simplistic, Spadework is a great story well-told, with not a single word out of place. Findley’s last novel is a must-read.