Exile: A Novel [Hardcover]

If you think political refugees who seek asylum in Canada are romantic figures, you need to meet Carlos Romero Estevez, the feckless antihero of Ann Ireland's third novel, Exile. Carlos hails from a fictional Latin American country named Santa Clara, where he was a journalist who fell afoul of the country's most powerful general for purely personal, not political, reasons. After hiding out in a friend's basement for four months, Carlos suddenly gets shipped to Vancouver where a group of earnest academic do-gooders have sponsored his asylum and landed him a cushy writer-in-exile gig at the university. The book plays back and forth between the expectations of the naive Canadians who are looking for a suitably grateful hero to worship and the selfish lifestyle of Carlos himself--he refuses to give up smoking, drinking, and steak dinners even as they break his benefactors' budget; he's used to having impoverished female servants around to do his cooking and laundry for him; and he hits on every likely female student or instructor who crosses his path.

Ann Ireland is a sly, imaginative, and award-winning writer whose previous novels have shown her fascination with the interplay between innocent North Americans and exotic foreigners (A Certain Mr. Takahashi) and between young female students and older teachers (The Instructor). Ireland's stint as president of PEN Canada undoubtedly opened her eyes to the tensions between the artistic and political lives of writers around the world and the desire of the Canadian cultural community to help (but only according to our rather bland and flat-footed rules). She paints these two solitudes with great wit and cunning observation. --Bronwyn Drainie

Ireland has written one of the year's best novels, a witty satire on cross-cultural expectations, the distances between people, and the frailty of good intentions. (Quentin Mills-Fenn Uptown Magazine 2002-12-05)

Ireland's prose is intelligent, witty and subversive. (National Post 2002-10-22)

"This is a wise, funny, sad, and compassionate book. Carlos's chagrin and pain are palpable, but Ireland holds out hope that as a clever man with a talent, he may transcend his shallow past and desperate present." (Maureen Garvie Quill & Quire 2002-11-01)

In the hands of a lesser writer, the broad strokes might simply have betrayed a lack of craft. But here, this deficit of details read more like a clever stylistic device used by a writer absolutely in charge of her tools. And there's no mistaking Ireland's talent. (Skidmore The Gazette 2002-11-09)

This is a fable that feels very real. (Alex Bozikovic Eye Weekly 2002-10-17)

This book will touch a nerve in the writing community. Not only does it reveal some of the motives of First World political networks, but it also examines cultural correctness and the universality of real freedom. Exile is not only a good read, it's a good-for-you read, particularly those given to benevolent acts of mercy. (Margaret Macpherson The Edmonton Journal 2002-11-10)

Exile is social commentary at its subtle and witty best.

(Doretta Lau The Vancouver Sun 2002-10-26)

Ireland's stint as president of PEN Canada undoubtedly opened her eyes to the tension between the artistic and political lives of writers around the world and the desire of Canadian cultural community to help (but only according to our rather bland and flat-footed rules). She paints these two solitudes with great wit and cunning observation.

(Browyn Drainie Amazon.ca)

Exile is a tour de force. I haven't been so amused and appaled by a fictional character since reading Vladimir Nabokov's Pnin. (Susan Evans Shaw The Hamilton Spectator 2002-12-21)

Exile is a brilliant tour de force, a refreshing antidote to the flag-waving fictions of multiculturalism.

(University of Toronto Quarterly 2003-01-01)

Her characters are delightfully stereotypical, and she playfully puts people's prejudices and assumptions on display. As past president of PEN Canada, Ireland has cleverly and cheekily turned the work of that organization into folly, earning her a deserved nomination for a Governor General's Award for fiction.

(Danyael Halprin The Calgary Herald 2002-11-30)

It is a reflection of the strength of a novel.

(Ryan Bigge The Toronto Star 2002-11-17)

Ireland's prose creates a vivid character in the flawed figure of Carlosand Ireland has deep insight into the lives of exiles. (Now Magazine 2002-11-28)

Ann Ireland is the award-winning author of two novels, A Certain Mr. Takahashi (which was made into the feature film, The Pianist), and The Instructor. She teaches at Ryerson Polytechnic University where she coordinates the Writing program in Continuing Education. She is a past-president of PEN Canada.