The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne
Novel (1979)
Jack Hodgins

Welcome to Port Annie. If this is your first visit to the Vancouver Island of Jack Hodgins' imagination, prepared to be surprised and delighted. From the start, you'll find yourself right at home, there's so much going on to gossip about. There's the giant cactus the mayor installed to attract the tourist trade; the personal life of Jenny Chambers, ex-stripper; the legends of Fat Annie, who may or may not have started life as a beached whale; and of course the goings-on at the Kick-and-Kill beer parlour. Not to mention Joseph Bourne himself, a most unusual man undergoing the most unusual experience of dying and coming back to life.

(from the cover of the Macmillan paperback edition)

The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction (1979).

Reviews

"The most sophisticated novel of the year ... A rich brew!"

Toronto Star

"Big-hearted, rampaging, stunning, a runaway success!"

Edmonton Sunday Sun

"Crammed with colour and bursting with characters ... a novel of hope and life."

Victoria Colonist