“There is no better way to lure a reader into a story than by killing off a literal canary, the extractive industry’s preferred harbinger to human health, at the very beginning… One of the most challenging things about deploying this sort of twangy and precocious Holden-Caulfield-type voice is making sure Kasper isn’t struck by moments of poetic pubescence, whether facing the state of mankind or, worse, gazing into a woman’s eyes. But Kasper’s naiveté steers the course, and like all children’s journeys, brings unexpected moments with it.”—Maisonneuve

“An eccentric portrait of small town life; a narrative voice that gets in your head and proves unforgettable, a story that manages to be utterly devastating and uplifting at once thanks to a character so strangely and richly imagined, with the most indefatigable sense of himself and his story and his worth—no matter what anybody else thinks, and you’re going to take his side. Not to mention be sorry when it’s finally time to leave it. I really loved this book.”—Kerry Clare, Pickle Me This

“We need good narrative fiction, in part for wisdom conveyed under layers of pure entertainment… The Union of Smokers is funny, intelligent, and unexpectedly poignant… never feeling forced. The Union of Smokers is pure exhilaration, a personal favourite of Spring 2020.”—Atlantic Books Today