Ring

Scotiabank Giller Prize winner Alexis (Days by Moonlight) completes his loosely connected Quincunx Cycle with this intriguing and magical love story. Gwen Lloyd, 29, a mixed-race Welsh and Black research associate, meets Olivier at a fundraiser for the Toronto Symphony. Their first date fizzles, but Gwen feels a strong attraction to his friend Tancred Palmieri, and continues seeing Olivier to get to know Tancred. While Gwen visits her parents back home in Bright’s Grove, her mother presents her with an unusual gift: a set of books and a gold ring passed down from mother to daughter in their family for centuries. The ring, her mother claims, will grant Gwen three wishes, but each will demand compensation and a sacrifice. Skeptical at first, Gwen tests the ring by wishing for Tancred to recite a foreign phrase. When he does, she enters a “dreamlike” state and observes herself mutilating her own finger as payment, and tries to glean as much wisdom from the writings about her foremothers on what to wish for while still grappling with the surreal nature of the heirloom. Alexis churns up a consistent supply of wry, pithy lines (“People fall out of respect as easily as they fall out of love”) while maintaining the tension between the threat and hope that the ring offers. This pleasantly unusual outing will please fans of Alain de Botton. (Oct.)