“No,” he said aloud.
A sigh escaped the child, as if he knew the denial was an affirmation, that it meant “Yes, I am still here, we are all of us together.”
Breathing again, the child began his mindless sorting of old pictures and Christmas cards.
“Well, Roy,” said Malcolm, as if answering some comment, “half the people in the world don’t even get as far as I did just now.”
That was the end of it – the end of the incident. It turned into a happy evening, one of their last in France.
OTHER TITLES FROM
DOUGLAS GIBSON BOOKS
PUBLISHED BY MCCLELLAND & STEWART LTD.
ALICE MUNRO’S BEST: Selected Stories by Alice Munro
A collection of seventeen of Alice Munro’s best stories. Long-time fans will enjoy meeting old favourites, readers lucky enough to have found her recently will be delighted, as one masterpiece succeeds another. “When reading her work it is difficult to remember why the novel was ever invented.” – The Times (U.K.)
Fiction, 6X9, 536 pages, hardcover
THE BEST LAID PLANS by Terry Fallis
Winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, Terry Fallis brings us a terrific Canadian political satire. Thanks to a great scandal, a crusty, old engineering professor is elected to parliament. He decides to see what good an honest politician with no aspirations to re-election can do. The results are hilarious.
Fiction, 6X9, 336 pages, trade paperback
THE SELECTED STORIES OF MAVIS GALLANT by Mavis Gallant
“A volume to hold and to treasure,” said the Globe and Mail of the 52 marvellous stories selected from Mavis Gallant’s life’s work. “It should be in every reader’s library.”
Fiction, 6X9, 912 pages, trade paperback
CHARLES THE BOLD by Yves Beauchemin, translated by Wayne Grady
An unforgettable coming-of-age story set in 1960s and 1970s east-end Montreal, from French Canada’s most popular novelist. “Truly astonishing … one of the great works of Canadian literature.” – Madeleine Thien
Fiction, 6X9, 384 pages, trade paperback
THE YEARS OF FIRE by Yves Beauchemin, translated by Wayne Grady
“Charles the Bold” continues his career in east-end Montreal, through the high-school years when he encounters girls and fights the threat of arson. “One of those ‘great books.’ No wonder Beauchemin is considered Quebec’s Balzac.” – Montreal Gazette
Fiction, 6X9, 240 pages, trade paperback
HELL OR HIGH WATER by Paul Martin
Great events and world figures stud this memoir from Canada’s 21st Prime Minister, which is firm but polite as it sets the record straight, and is full of wry humour and self-deprecating stories. Paul Martin emerges as a fascinating flesh and blood man, still working hard to make a better world.
Autobiography, 6X9, 496 pages plus 24 pages of photographs, hardcover
ROBERTSON DAVIES: A Portrait in Mosaic by Val Ross
Robertson Davies was a larger than life character whose books continue to fascinate readers around the world. Val Ross collected hundreds of stories from those who knew him. “Full of nuggets and small surprises, Ross’s glance-back at the iconic Robertson Davies is greatly entertaining, a feast for the book lover.” – London Free Press
Biography, 6X9, 390 pages, hardcover
Copyright © 2009 by Mavis Gallant
Introduction copyright © 2009 by Alberto Manguel
Cloth edition published 2009
Emblem edition published 2010
Emblem is an imprint of McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
Emblem and colophon are registered trademarks of McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without the prior written consent of the publisher – or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency – is an infringement of the copyright law.
All of the stories in this selection, with three exceptions, were originally published in The New Yorker. “Paola and Renata” was originally published in The Southern Review, “Thieves and Rascals” in Esquire, and “The Burgundy Weekend” in The Tamarack Review. The story “One Morning in May” originally appeared under the title “One Morning in June.”
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Gallant, Mavis, 1922-
Going ashore : stories / Mavis Gallant.
eISBN: 978-1-55199-366-9
I. Title.
PS8513.A593G64 2010 C813. 54 C2009-905220-2
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and that of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Ontario Book Initiative. We further acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program.
A Douglas Gibson Book
McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
75 Sherbourne Street
Toronto, Ontario
M5A 2P9
www.mcclelland.com
v3.0
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