David Nansen was no one’s hero, least of all his own . . . A failed marriage, a young daughter with a mysterious illness, and a pacifism during the Vietnam War era that landed him not on a newspaper front page or even in jail but in Canada left him adrift, wanting to care but not knowing how. Then Marta’s dark beauty entered his life while they were teaching in Newfoundland, completing their PhDs, and awaiting their divorces so they could marry. The future looked more hopeful until Marta was shot and killed. At Marta’s wake he met Laura, a Christian of a kind he’d never known before. Completing Marta’s thesis introduced David to the writings and person of the Canadian novelist, Morley Callaghan. Although drawn into increasingly bizarre circumstances by individuals and by the machinations of a legal system that did not consider victims’ or survivors’ rights, David found new hope in the writings of Callaghan and in Laura’s faith. But he was falling in love with his evangelist and Laura kept her distance. Richard Tallman’s memorate of The Turning Year explores the mindscape of the modern condition, telling of a year of tragedy and redemption, of legal and emotional trials, of human wretchedness and unexpected promise.

Richard Tallman grew up in Des Moines, Iowa, and had his first newspaper byline in 1960; he also wrote and published poetry in several little magazines. He studied in the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, where he earned his BA in English. Richard received an MA (English) at the University of Maine, and in 1974 he was the first person awarded a Ph.D. in Folklore in English-speaking Canada, also the first from Memorial University of Newfoundland. He taught American literature, American studies, and folklore at universities and colleges in Maine, Newfoundland, Florida, Arkansas, and New Brunswick from the late 1960s until the end of the 1970s. Richard and his family returned to Canada, and he became a Canadian citizen in the mid-1980s. For over 30 years he has been a freelance editor in the Canadian book industry, specializing in the social sciences and humanities, and has edited numerous award-winning volumes.

264 pages. Soft cover.

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