Going Down Swinging
May 2010 · Sold by Vintage Canada
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About this ebook
A remarkable debut novel and bittersweet tale of the unflinching love and devotion between a mother and daughter.
Razor sharp and darkly funny, Going Down Swinging chronicles two years in the life of the Hoffmans. Eilleen Hoffman has just told Danny, her con-artist lover and father of her youngest daughter Grace, to get out—for good. Once a teacher, Eilleen lived a middle-class life, but her taste in men coupled with a predilection for pills and booze has brought her down. Desperate to prevent her family from sinking deeper into poverty, Eilleen reluctantly goes on welfare.
Eventually she turns to the only friends she has left, hustlers and hookers, to learn how a woman makes fast money, no investment necessary. With Eilleen on welfare and her older daughter Charlotte a teenaged runaway, child welfare authorities descend on the Hoffmans. As Eilleen trails through several attempts at drying out, the well-intentioned Children's Protection Society finally intervenes to apprehend Grace. With the threat of prolonged separation now a stark reality, Eilleen and Grace must rally to confront their demons with grit, determination and humour.
Unblinkingly observed and brilliantly written, Going Down Swinging is about the powerful bond between mother and child. And with her skilful narrative interplay, Billie Livingston illustrates poignantly how the truth of our stories lies not so much in the black and white, as it does in the grey.
Razor sharp and darkly funny, Going Down Swinging chronicles two years in the life of the Hoffmans. Eilleen Hoffman has just told Danny, her con-artist lover and father of her youngest daughter Grace, to get out—for good. Once a teacher, Eilleen lived a middle-class life, but her taste in men coupled with a predilection for pills and booze has brought her down. Desperate to prevent her family from sinking deeper into poverty, Eilleen reluctantly goes on welfare.
Eventually she turns to the only friends she has left, hustlers and hookers, to learn how a woman makes fast money, no investment necessary. With Eilleen on welfare and her older daughter Charlotte a teenaged runaway, child welfare authorities descend on the Hoffmans. As Eilleen trails through several attempts at drying out, the well-intentioned Children's Protection Society finally intervenes to apprehend Grace. With the threat of prolonged separation now a stark reality, Eilleen and Grace must rally to confront their demons with grit, determination and humour.
Unblinkingly observed and brilliantly written, Going Down Swinging is about the powerful bond between mother and child. And with her skilful narrative interplay, Billie Livingston illustrates poignantly how the truth of our stories lies not so much in the black and white, as it does in the grey.
A remarkable debut novel and bittersweet tale of the unflinching love and devotion between a mother and daughter.
Razor sharp and darkly funny, Going Down Swinging chronicles two years in the life of the Hoffmans. Eilleen Hoffman has just told Danny, her con-artist lover and father of her young...
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About the author
BILLIE LIVINGSTON is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Going Down Swinging, Cease to Blush, and One Good Hustle, which was longlisted for the Giller Prize, nominated for the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult Book Award, and named a best book of the year by The Globe and Mail. She is also the author of Greedy Little Eyes, a short story collection that won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award and the CBC's Bookie Award; The Crooked Heart of Mercy, a novel; and The Chick at the Back of the Church, a poetry collection for which Livinston won the Pat Lowther award. Her short story, "Sitting on the Edge of Marlene," has been adapted as a feature film. In 2017, Livingston received the Writers' Trust Engel/Findley Award "in recognition of a remarkable body of work, and in anticipation of future contributions to Canadian literature."
BILLIE LIVINGSTON is a Canadian novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Going Down Swinging, Cease to Blush, and One Good Hustle, which was longlisted for the Giller Prize, nominated for the Canadian Library Association's Young Adult ...
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