A Gradual Ruin

By Robert Hilles

From acclaimed novelist and Governor General’s Award-winning poet Robert Hilles comes a haunting story about the desperate choices made in wartime, and lives affirmed or shattered in a moment.

In the final, chaotic days of the Second World War, Tommy, a young Canadian soldier, is separated from his unit and lost in enemy territory. Seeking shelter among the rotting haystacks and devastated farmhouses of the German countryside, he follows a cry to a bloodied and terrified girl. When he decided to save her from starvation, or worse, Tommy’s life is forever changed.

And in 1960s northern Ontario, fourteen-year-old Judith discovers what her mother, Alice, has already learned: that when circumstances and frustrated desire force you from home, sometimes all you can do is begin life afresh. Impetuous, intelligent and suspicious, Judith is on the verge of bringing old mistakes into a new world.

These lives are woven into a story at once grand and intimate. Spanning continents and generations, A Gradual Ruin is an engrossing account of lives damaged in the present those lost in the past. With patience and empathy, Robert Hilles vividly captures the ache for the missing parent or lover, and the guilt for those imperfectly loved, or unintentionally betrayed.

From Stalin's gulags to the farms and paper mills of northern Ontario, A Gradual Ruin probes a life's purpose, and a heart's responsibility in a world far beyond our power to control. In the theatre of war as within the confines of family, our lives often turn not on our goodwill or our careful plans, but on the caprice of fate.

He crawled a good distance into the forest before he heard the whimpering. At first, he thought he imagined it, fatigue playing tricks on him. But as he moved forward, the sound grew stronger. Worried that he was stumbling into a trap, he thought for a moment about heading back, but his heart drew him to the sound against his better judgment. He inched closer, and the sound became more clearly that of a crying child. Near the source, the bush opened up, and he saw someone lying in the dirt, so covered in filth and blood that at first he couldn't make out whether it was a boy or girl. He pulled himself to within a few feet and the sobbing stopped. The girl had seen him, but she made no attempt to flee or defend herself. Tommy reached out a shaking hand to brush aside the dirt and mud, and she screamed so loudly he clasped his hand around her mouth, but she bit him and he had to let her go. Her hair clung to her head in matted, muddied clumps. She was only thirteen or fourteen. -- from A Gradual Ruin

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 20, 2010
• ISBN: 9780385672658