David C.C. Bourgeois, Full Fadom Five, Baraka Books, Montréal, pb 2023. 348pp. ARC kindly provided by the publishers

I’ve reviewed a number of Québec-based Baraka Books titles over the years: their output is always interesting and innovative. Full Fadom Five, David Bourgeois’ first novel, is no exception.

I struggled with this novel at first. The narrative begins at a slow pace, meditative and moody in tone, but I became attuned to its quirks, and despite a few misgivings found it a rewarding read – and the pace picks up after a while.

There are several interconnected storylines. Noah Lamarck’s parents died when he was a child, and there’s a mystery about what happened to them that continues to haunt him. He was brought up by his grandparents in Cape Breton, an island off the far NE coast of Canada. Noah’s grandfather has dementia, and his grandmother struggles to cope with him.

Noah has a complex relationship with his estranged wife, a situation that becomes more tangled when he takes up a job offer from a sinister Bond-villainous tycoon, a collector of rare books and MSS: with graduate student Cecilia, a Shakespeare specialist, he’s to research a cache of documents that might prove sensational. Shakespeare’s plays and their themes inform much of this novel, including the title (with its period orthography).

Noah isn’t good with relationships, and he has trouble sorting out his conflicting feelings for Cecilia and his ex. As they follow the trail of the characters in the documents and their descendants, the plot becomes stranger; despite some stretches of credibility, it’s all handled with aplomb by Bourgeois, and he’s created in Noah a believable character, and the plot dénouement is well handled. Some of the other characters are more sketchily realised.

There are some bizarre passages in pastiche 17C prose style that look a bit like a creative writing workshop exercise, though I suppose the plot justifies the author showing off his technical skills. There’s some vivid and evocative description of the wild, tempestuous Cape Breton coastline where Noah spends part of his time.