Trout Stanley

By Claudia Dey

Described by Variety as ‘Yukon Gothic,’ Claudia Dey’s acclaimed Trout Stanley is set in northern British Columbia, on the outskirts of a mining town between Misery Junction and Grizzly Alley. In this inhospitable setting live a pair of sisters, twins who are not identical in any way: Sugar, a complicated, insecure waif who still wears the tracksuit her mother died in ten years prior, and Grace, a rough-and-tumble hellcat who owns the local dump. At the play’s opening, it is their thirtieth birthday, and the TV news has announced the disappearance of a local Scrabble-champ stripper. While Grace is at the dump, housebound Sugar is surprised by a mysterious drifter, one Trout Stanley, foot fetishist and fake cop, who is searching for the lake where his parents drowned – a fishy story if there ever was one. He quickly becomes mired in a surreal love triangle with the two sisters.

Trout Stanley is about three people who confuse codependence for co-operation and afliction for affection. An eccentric, captivating story in which the biggest catch of all is love.

Lavishly illustrated by Jason Logan.

‘Trout Stanley stands out from the crowd … Dey, whose language has always been striking and whose dramaturgy has sharpened with every play she’s written, here delivers a masterwork.’ – The National Post

• Language: English
• Publisher: Coach House Books
• Release date: Oct 5, 2005
• ISBN: 9781770562288

Claudia Dey

CLAUDIA DEY is a novelist, playwright and columnist. Her plays have been produced internationally and include Beaver, Trout Stanley and The Gwendolyn Poems, which was nominated for the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Award. Her debut novel, Stunt, was chosen by The Globe and Mail and Quill & Quire as a Best Book of the Year and was shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award. Dey lives in Toronto and is co-owner and co-creator of the design label Horses Atelier.

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