A Jest of God - Softcover

'A Jest of God holds a special place for me ... I found it an almost perfect book, in that it did what it set out to do, with no gaps and no excesses. Like a pool or a well, it covers a small area but goes down deep ... plain, self-contained, elegant in form, holding within it the essentials of life' Margaret Atwood.

'Authentic and powerful. The dialogue is full of nice ironies and the narrative finely paced' TLS.

'It's not hard to see why its female readers welcomed and cherished it ... this is not a feel-good book but Rachel is portrayed with exceptional insight and subtlety which feel relevant still' Sunday Herald.

'Laurence remains, for many readers, the defining conscious of 20th-century Canadian literary fiction as well as a major influence on Alice Munro and Margaret Atwood. It is easy to see why ... This stylistically sophisticated narrative [is] tender and sympathetic but never sentimental' Irish Times.

For years Rachel Cameron has dreamed of leaving her small town and manipulative mother; but duty and caution have kept her at home. At thirty-four, she finally confronts passion and death, and realizes that she cannot continue to sacrifice love and freedom, but needs both to survive. Rachel's passage toward self-discovery is one we will all recognize - one that is exciting, sad, funny, and true.