Dominic Wilson, president of WilCor Communications, Hong Kong, is in the process of not being arrested for unspecified crimes he didn’t commit. Detained in the remote city of Bon in the last frontier of a remote Asian country known as Gyatso, Dominic remembers a quote from a tourist guide: The imagination of Gyatso is infinite. Placed under a seemingly benign form of house arrest, told that his flight has been cancelled, Dominic wonders about imagination and reality, trust and deception, pleasure and guilt  and his true reasons for being there.House on Fire is Charles Foran’s startling new novel, a multi-layered blend of political and personal thriller that is a brilliant departure for this gifted and highly acclaimed writer. A skilled literary reflection of Tibet’s struggle against its Chinese oppressors, it is the story of Dominic Wilson, a transplanted Canadian and former journalist, now living in Hong Kong with his wife and two young children. He tells authorities he has traveled to Gyatso on a holiday, but is actually there to interview the author of a short story  a story that haunts his entire existence. Now he has found himself in the middle of a political no-man’s land. Is Sun Nanping, the man who introduces himself as the head of the Bon tourism office, actually Dominic’s chief jailer? Is Paddy Chan, with his Asian features, bleached hair and Irish accent, really a friend? What about Kuno, a 12-year-old boy who leads Dominic to his dissident author one minute, but spouts ruling doctrine in the next? There are no easy answers in the clash between East and West, between oppressor and oppressed, and in the dichotomy of a city that teems with vicious wild dogs on its streets and satellite dishes on its roofs.With the pacing of a classic thriller, and shot through with the mysteries of place and passion, House on Fire is an edgy, complex and compelling novel.

House on fire: A novel

Literature & Fiction

Foran, Charles

World Literature

HarperflamingoCanada

<ul>
<li>Winner of the QSPELL Award 
</li>
<li>Chosen as the best book of the year by Maclean’s, the Toronto Star,Quill &amp; Quire and NOW Magazine.</li>
</ul>
In the 1970s, Charles Foran met the McNallys, a Catholic family living in Belfast. Many years and many trips later, Foran came to see their home as a window onto the often violent and volatile world of Northern Ireland.
First published to great acclaim in 1995, The Last House of Ulster continues to resonate with readers today. This is the storyof Mairtin, arrested at twenty as a member of the IRA, of his sister Patricia who, dazed and exhausted, approaches a soldier and demands that he lower his gun, and of gentle Sean, who grows up knowing that he must leave Belfast. Mostof all, this is the story of James and Maureen McNally, who struggle to hold on to their own hopes and dreams while raising their family in a war-torn country.

The Last House Of Ulster

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Harper-perennial

In 1971, ten-year-old Charlie Foran handed in a Grade Five writing project called The Story of My Life (so far). In this revised and expanded version of that early effort, award-winning author Charles Foran relates the story of his boyhood, told from a boy's perspective. Dropped squarely into the soul and psyche of a child -- a creature absorbed with nicknames and swear words, God and sin, girls in skirts and his own bulging pants -- we see the world as only a six- or seven-year-old can, a place where the imagination is fantastical and unfettered and connections, often cosmic, rarely logical, flow as naturally as thoughts and words.At age five, Charlie worries about getting lost in an "apartment store". At seven, the mysteries of first communion having been revealed, Charlie finds he can no longer eat baloney sandwiches without thinking of The Body of Christ -- and barf. At eight, Charlie reasons that his soaked running shoes will giveaway to his mother that he kissed a girl down by the at ten, he awakens to the realization that words can cause more pain than punches, especially when the target seems defenseless.

The Story of My Life So Far: A Happy Childhood

Reference

Catalogs & Directories

New York HarperCollins

The Story of My Life (So Far)

HarperCollins Publishers,Inc.

Dominic Wilson, president of WilCor Communications, Hong Kong, is in the process of not being arrested for unspecified crimes he didn’t commit. Detained in the remote city of Bon in the last frontier of a remote Asian country known as Gyatso, Dominic remembers a quote from a tourist guide: The imagination of Gyatso is infinite. Placed under a seemingly benign form of house arrest, told that his flight has been cancelled, Dominic wonders about imagination and reality, trust and deception, pleasure and guilt  and his true reasons for being there.House on Fire is Charles Foran’s startling new novel, a multi-layered blend of political and personal thriller that is a brilliant departure for this gifted and highly acclaimed writer. A skilled literary reflection of Tibet’s struggle against its Chinese oppressors, it is the story of Dominic Wilson, a transplanted Canadian and former journalist, now living in Hong Kong with his wife and two young children. He tells authorities he has traveled to Gyatso on a holiday, but is actually there to interview the author of a short story  a story that haunts his entire existence. Now he has found himself in the middle of a political no-man’s land. Is Sun Nanping, the man who introduces himself as the head of the Bon tourism office, actually Dominic’s chief jailer? Is Paddy Chan, with his Asian features, bleached hair and Irish accent, really a friend? What about Kuno, a 12-year-old boy who leads Dominic to his dissident author one minute, but spouts ruling doctrine in the next? There are no easy answers in the clash between East and West, between oppressor and oppressed, and in the dichotomy of a city that teems with vicious wild dogs on its streets and satellite dishes on its roofs.With the pacing of a classic thriller, and shot through with the mysteries of place and passion, House on Fire is an edgy, complex and compelling novel.

House On Fire Tpb

Literary

Born in 1921 into a working-class family, Maurice Richard came of age as a French Canadian and an athlete during an era when the majority population of Quebec slumbered. A proud, reticent man, Richard aspired only to score goals and win championships for the Montreal Canadiens. But he represented far more than an explosive forward who filled seats in NHL arenas; Richard’s on-ice ferocity and off-ice dignity echoed the change in Quebec . The March 1955 “Richard Riot” contained the seeds of transformation. And by the time he retired in 1960, Quebec had begun to reinvent itself as a modern, secular society. Charles Foran argues that the province’s passionate identification with Richard’s success and struggles emboldened its people and changed Canada irrevocably.

Extraordinary Canadians: Maurice Richard

Penguin Canada

Born in 1921 into a working-class family, Maurice Richard came of age as a French Canadian and athlete during an era when the majority population of Quebec slumbered. A proud, reticent man, Richard aspired only to score goals and win championships for the Montreal Canadiens. But he represented far more than a high-scoring forward who filled seats in NHL arenas. Beginning with his 50-goal, 50-game season in 1944-45 and through his battles with the league over bigotry toward French-Canadian players, Richard's on-ice ferocity and off-ice dignity echoed the change in Quebec. The March 1955 “Richard Riot,” in which fans went on a rampage to protest his suspension, contained the seeds of transformation. By the time Richard retired in 1960, Quebec had begun to reinvent itself as a modern, secular society. Author Charles Foran argues that the province's passionate identification with Richard's success and struggles emboldened its people and changed Canada irrevocably.

VIKING

Foran's book is IT: the definitive, detailed, intimate portrait of Mordecai Richler, the lion of Canadian literature, and the turbulent, changing times that nurtured him. It is also an extraordinary love story that lasted half a century. The first major biography with access to family letters and archives. Mordecai Richler was an outsized and outrageous novelist whose life reads like fiction. Mordecai Richler won multiple Governor General's Literary Awards, the Giller Prize, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize, among others, as well as many awards for his children's books. He also wrote Oscar-nominated screenplays. His influence was larger than life in Canada and abroad. In Mordecai, award-winning novelist and journalist Charlie Foran brings to the page the richness of Mordecai's life as young bohemian, irreverent writer, passionate and controversial Canadian, loyal friend and deeply romantic lover. He explores Mordecai's distraught childhood, and gives us the "portrait of a marriage" — the lifelong love affair with Florence, with Mordecai as beloved father of five. The portrait is alive and intimate — warts and all.

Mordecai: The Life & Times

Arts & Literature

Knopf Canada

Vintage Canada

In his poignant memoir, Charles Foran presents a portrait of his gruff-but-fond father wrestling with the end of life as Charlie acts as witness, solace, and would-be guide while facing his own mortality. What story can we tell ourselves and those we love, this radiant book asks, to withstand the inevitable mutability of time and self? A powerful meditation on fathers and sons, love and loss, and what it means to be alive "just once, no more." Dave Foran was a formidable man of few words, from a different era than his sensitive, literary son, Charlie. As a younger person, Dave had lived alone for months in the bush, overcome snow blindness, hauled a dead body across a frozen lake on a dogsled, dodged bullets in a bar, and gone toe-to-toe with a bear. Some aspects of his life were rollicking while others were more restrained: A decent father and a devoted husband, Dave was also emotionally distant, prone to laconic cynicism and a changeable mood. As Charlie writes: "He struggled most days of his life with wounds he could not readily identify, let alone heal." The year Charlie turned 55, his 83-year-old father began a slow, final decline, and Charlie surprised himself by wanting to write about their relationship. On the surface, his motiavation was to reassure his father that he was loved. But there was also a deeper desire at work. "Late into the middle of my own lifespan," Charlie writes, "sadness took hold of my being . . . I wanted to say so frankly, never mind how uncomfortable it made me." In spare, haunting prose, Just Once, No More pulls on these delicate threads--unravelling a fascinating personal story and revealing its poignant universality.

Just Once, No More: On Fathers, Sons, and Who We Are Until We Are No Longer

Self-Help

Death & Grief

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Foran, Charles. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Foran, Charles

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Foran, Charles. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

House on fire: A novel

The Last House Of Ulster

The Story of My Life So Far: A Happy Childhood

The Story of My Life (So Far)

House On Fire Tpb

Extraordinary Canadians: Maurice Richard

Extraordinary Canadians: Maurice Richard

Mordecai: The Life & Times

Mordecai: The Life & Times

Just Once, No More: On Fathers, Sons, and Who We Are Until We Are No Longer