David Bergen

Set during the summer of the Ojibway occupation of Anicinabe Park in Kenora, The Retreat is a finely nuanced, deeply felt novel that tells the story of the complicated love between a white girl and a native boy, and of a family on the verge of splintering forever. It is also a story of the bond between two brothers who were separated in childhood, and whose lives and fates intertwine ten years later.

Described as "a 'Franny and Zooey' for the 21st century", Bergen's third novel tells the story of 16-year-old Mason Crowe and the women he encounters. An intelligent and humourous portrait of the innocence, wisdom and yearning of youth.

"When Morris Schutt, a prominent newspaper columnist, surveys his life over the past year, he sees disaster everywhere. His son has just been killed in Afghanistan, and his newspaper has put him on indefinite leave; his psychiatrist wife, Lucille, seems headed for the door; he is strongly attracted to Ursula, the wife of a dairy farmer from Minnesota; and his daughter appears to be having an affair with one of her professors. What is a thinking man to do but turn to Cicero, Plato, and Socrates in search of truth? Or better still, to call one of those discreet 'dating services' in search of happiness? But happiness, as Morris discovers, is not that easy to find."--P. of cover.

When their father leaves his B.C. home and travels back to Vietnam where he fought years earlier, a brother and sister follow him.