{"product_id":"9781552454589","title":"The Sleeping Car Porter","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003cb\u003eFINALIST FOR THE 2023 GOVERNOR GENERAL'S AWARD FOR ENGLISH-LANGUAGE FICTION\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE CITY OF CALGARY W.O. MITCHELL BOOK PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCBC BOOKS: THE BEST CANADIAN FICTION OF 2022\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhen a mudslide strands a train, Baxter, a queer Black sleeping car porter, must contend with the perils of white passengers, ghosts, and his secret love affair\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Sleeping Car Porter\u003c\/i\u003e brings to life an important part of Black history in North America, from the perspective of a queer man living in a culture that renders him invisible in two ways. Affecting, imaginative, and visceral enough that you’ll feel the rocking of the train, \u003ci\u003eThe Sleeping Car Porter\u003c\/i\u003e is a stunning accomplishment.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBaxter’s name isn’t George. But it’s 1929, and Baxter is lucky enough, as a Black man, to have a job as a sleeping car porter on a train that crisscrosses the country. So when the passengers call him George, he has to just smile and nod and act invisible. What he really wants is to go to dentistry school, but he’ll have to save up a lot of nickel and dime tips to get there, so he puts up with “George.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn this particular trip out west, the passengers are more unruly than usual, especially when the train is stalled for two extra days; their secrets start to leak out and blur with the sleep-deprivation hallucinations Baxter is having. When he finds a naughty postcard of two queer men, Baxter’s memories and longings are reawakened; keeping it puts his job in peril, but he can’t part with the postcard or his thoughts of Edwin Drew, Porter Instructor.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Suzette Mayr brings to life –believably, achingly, thrillingly –a whole world contained in a passenger train moving across the Canadian vastness, nearly one hundred years ago. As only occurs in the finest historical novels, every page in \u003cem\u003eThe Sleeping Car Porter\u003c\/em\u003e feels alive and immediate –and eerily contemporary. The sleeping car porter in this sleek, stylish novel is named R.T. Baxter –called \u003cem\u003eGeorge\u003c\/em\u003e by the people upon whom he waits, as is every other Black porter. Baxter’s dream of one day going to school to learn dentistry coexists with his secret life as a gay man, and in Mayr’s triumphant novel we follow him not only from Montreal to Calgary, but into and out of the lives of an indelibly etched cast of supporting characters, and, finally, into a beautifully rendered radiance.\" – \u003cstrong\u003e2022 Giller Prize Jury\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFEATURED ON MICHELLE OBAMA'S INSTAGRAM\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2024 DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE 2022 GILLER PRIZE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWINNER OF THE 2023 GEORGES BUGNET AWARD FOR FICTION\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePUBLISHERS WEEKLY TOP 20 LITERARY FICTION BOOKS OF 2022\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOPRAH DAILY: BOOKS TO READ BY THE FIRE\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTHE GLOBE 100: THE BEST BOOKS OF 2022\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE CAROL SHIELDS PRIZE FOR FICTION\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSHORTLISTED FOR THE 2022 REPUBLIC OF CONSCIOUSNESS PRIZE\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Suzette Mayr","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43054007353411,"sku":"9781552454589","price":23.95,"currency_code":"CAD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0678\/3523\/2323\/files\/BNCImageAPI_da723d25-2046-40fc-bb71-350ae29ac79c.jpg?v=1774039598","url":"https:\/\/thebookshop613.ca\/products\/9781552454589","provider":"The Bookshop 613","version":"1.0","type":"link"}