History Lessons

Cary Fagan

Imprint: Hounslow Press | Format: Paperback | Pub Date: 1990 | 164 pages |
ISBN: 0-88882-129-8

The stories and novellas in History Lessons, Cary Fagan's first full-length collection of fiction, reveal the dreams and deceptions that people live by. These works have a vivid sense of place and detail as they trace the inner lives of characters. Among them: an immigrant child strives to keep her world together; an old man with a buried past finds himself involved with a troupe of avant-garde actors; a young Jewish boy comes of age through discovery and revelation.

These fictions unveil personal histories, memories, and myths — with all their emotional and moral intensities. They move beyond the surface to surprising depths.

"A very, very fine short story writer." — Timothy Findley

Awarded four stars by NOW Magazine

Quill & Quire called it "astonishing," and chose it as one of the season's best literary books.

"[Fagan] is a psychological realist in the best sense of the tradition." — The Globe and Mail

"Poignant." — Books in Canada

"Absorbing." — Victoria Times-Colonist

"Charming and quietly surprising ... insightfully gentle stories." — Canadian Literature.