Meet Jim Morrison–not the lead singer of the Doors who died a rock ‘n’ roll death in 1971, but a chubby seventeen-year-old living in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, born days after the singer’s death. Jim, or Jimmy, as most people call him, has been living a largely invisible life, overshadowed by his older brother, Mike, popular and charismatic, and his father, Fort, a stern and unyielding engineer. But everything changes the night the local public library explodes, with pieces of books and catalogue cards falling like snow from the dark sky. Jimmy is first on the scene with his father and it’s soon clear that Mike had been in the library when it exploded. Mike’s death upends the Morrisons’ suburban life and any sense of normalcy is destroyed. Their mother, Filomena, is nearly catatonic with shock, and Jimmy must become his much younger brother’s nanny, taking him to preschool every day and uncomfortably hanging out with a gang of mothers, watching them breastfeed and talking about peanut allergies. The cause of the library explosion remains mysterious, and Jimmy tries to help his father unofficially gather evidence at the site. Add to this his duties surrounding his mother’s idea to have a birthday party for his dead brother, and Jimmy finds himself busier and, bizarrely, happier than he’s ever been.
“A beautiful meditation on loss, grief and the stubborn resilience of families.”
— Nino Ricci, author of The Origin of Species
“Don’t Be Afraid is an extraordinary novel, utterly compelling from the first page to the last. Portraying lovable characters in varying degrees of crisis, the novel is tender, wise and hilariously funny. Hayward is the fine and rare writer—like Richler in Solomon Gursky or Barney’s Version—who makes us laugh all the while illuminating with compassion and candour the truths of the human heart.”
— Timothy Taylor, author of Stanley Park
“Don’t Be Afraid broke my heart in the very best way. That is, the funny/sad way. Indeed, Steven Hayward may just be the best funny/sad writer we have. Go on. Let him break your heart.”
— Andrew Pyper, author of The Killing Circle
“A hilarious and quietly subversive tour of post-industrial American suburban life. The fictional Jim Morrison in Don’t Be Afraid is more interesting than the real Jim Morrison ever was.”
— Stephen Marche, author of Raymond and Hannah
“Don’t Be Afraid is an acutely smart and sensitive portrayal of a youth who is forced to confront the inexplicable death of a family member. Steven Hayward is an outstanding writer with a special talent for exploring the big existential questions through comic virtuosity and the artful rendering of voice.”
— David Chariandy, author of Soucouyant
It’s a summer afternoon in 1933 when our hero, Lucio Burke, knocks a great bird out of the Toronto sky with a single, perfect throw. Thus it is that Lucio finds himself pulled into history—into contact with a radicalized labour movement, anti-Semitism, and Mussolini’s fascism—and into a city alive with new immigrants, Jews, Italians, Irish, and Chinese, who are dreaming and working their way to a brand new life. On hand to observe this incredible chain of events is nineteen-year-old Ruthie the Commie—gorgeous, fearsome, and convinced that love and social justice are both just around the corner. And the day she seduces Lucio, his best friend and next-door-neighbour, Dubie, declares his love for Ruthie. What follows is a story about young love, friendship, the nature of the miraculous, and a quest to change the world.
Winner of the Grinzane Cavour Award for Best Debut Novel (Italy)
Finalist for the Northern Ohio Arts Achievement Award
“The genius of Steven Hayward…is to take the daily slipshod passage
of trivial-to-traumatic events, present it as pure storytelling and distill from it the essence of what it means to live, through times both terrible and transcendent… It’s been years since I’ve seen this much
fresh talent and wisdom.”—The Globe and Mail
“an engaging writer, with an offbeat sense of humour and a knack for making us care…There are traces of Bernard Malamud’s baseball fable, The Natural…and some John Irving, too.”—Joel Yanofsky, The National Post
“The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke is full of colorful, larger-than-life characters and richly rendered action. Steven Hayward has created a mythic Toronto that will live vividly in the reader’s imagination.”
—Dan Chaon, author of You Remind Me of Me
“Reading this book is an immersive, unforgettable experience.
You’ll want to share it with everyone you know. It’s sweet without being cloying. It’s graceful and charming, hilarious and touching. Hayward has knocked this one out of the park.”—Vancouver Sun
“a great story, filled with ample humour and affecting tragedy. Hayward captures the prewar era and the angst of passing into adulthood with great assurance in this gem of a novel.” —Edmonton Journal
“In a debut novel, Depression-era Toronto comes alive as a magical and
slightly unreal landscape. The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke is lively and fun and just a little corny, like Mordecai Richler’s Duddy Kravitz painted in the hues of Norman Rockwell–it’s unmistakably fantastical fiction.”
—Time Magazine Canada
“The Secret Mitzvah of Lucio Burke is a wonderful novel, funny and
touching, and full of more sheer invention than most novelists stretch
over a career. It is a great achievement.”
—Paul Quarrington, author of Galveston and Whale Music
Exile Press | May 25, 2000 | Trade Paperback
