The Underpainter - Tapa dura

"Her language is pure, dazzling in its precision, like the etching of ice on glass." -"Globe and Mail" "A painterly masterwork...poignant in each of its several landscapes and subtle in tracing the mingled nuances of love and pain." -Kirkus Reviews "The detached eye of the narrator never falters, though passion hums beneath the surface like some vast primeval beast beneath the ice." -"The Independent" (U.K.) "Writing with the eye of a painter, Urquhart transforms the energy of the world into enduring literature." -"Kitchener-Waterloo Record" "Urquhart is one of Canada's most accomplished and interesting writers." -"Edmonton Journal" "Original and dazzling, radiant and quietly perceptive, Urquhart's new novel delights the senses even as it astonishes the mind...." -"London Free Press" "A lyrical novel with a deep, unsentimental connection to ordinary life...[Urquhart's] language is vivid enough to take your breath away."

Austin Fraser's painting teacher had indoctrinated him with the view that unless something could be turned into art, it simply was not worth his time. And in this he included people. Austin certainly applied the principle to Sara Pengelly, who lived alone on the edge of Lake Superior.