The Girl in the Grass

About the Book

Trevor Harris has no "game plan." He is sexually dislocated, he drinks, and he spends a lot of time in the middle of the night listening to an escapist radio programme. During his dockside rounds on the overnight shift as a railway policeman in Thunder Bay, Harris finds an unconscious girl lying in the grass. He goes to telephone for help, then decides not to. Eventually he goes back to the girl. But she is no longer there. Jennifer Viklund, 18, becomes a missing person case. Later Harris finds a key-ring in the grass where the girl was. Obsessed and guilt-ridden, he does a bizarre thing. Making sure no one is at home, he lets himself into her family's house, goes to JenniferÕs room and takes some of her things. His mounting escapism takes him to the Caribbean. He confesses his Jennifer story to an American, Dana Capers, and an English girl, Julie Maxwell. Both are disgusted. Moving to Vancouver, Harris regularly watches a woman undress in her apartment across the lane. He becomes involved with her. The old Jennifer question comes out of the past. And with it comes mutual suspicion. Then they take a trip to Thunder Bay.

About the Author

Duncan McWhirter was born in Winnipeg and grew up there and in Thunder Bay, Ont. He graduated from the University of Toronto and has worked as a journalist in Canada and London. He has short stories and cartoons published, and his previous novels are White Houses (2000) and the Paper-Boy (2005). He lives in Vancouver.