Extraordinary

In the latest novel by prominent Canadian author Gilmour (A Perfect Night to Go to China won a 2005 Governor-General's award) the never-named narrator spends a Saturday evening and night with his half-sister Sally, his older sibling by 15 years. Owing to the vagaries of divorce and their age difference the two did not spend much time together growing up. As adults, however, they developed a strong and loving relationship. Sally is a single mother, divorced, who struggled to bring up two children with little help from their father. Due to an accident she suffered while in Mexico, Sally is confined to a wheelchair, paralyzed from the neck down. Her life has not been an easy one, and she often turns to her brother for help. On this night, they reminisce about their pasts, both shared and separate. They contemplate the curious ways in which one's path in life is determined. And one more thing: the reason they are together on that night is because Sally has enlisted the help of her brother to end her life. Gilmour tells the story with emotion but avoids, what in less talented hands would become, mawkish sentimentality. His spare poetic style makes Extraordinary a compelling novel. Agent: Sam Hiyate, the Rights Factory. (Aug.)