Barbara Gowdy, Helpless: AudioBook
In this latest podcast featuring new AudioBooks from HarperCollins, we’ve got a real audio
treat for you. Noted Canadian Arts Journalist Laurie Brown, the host of CBC Radio Two’s The Signal, reads from award winning author Barbara Gowdy’s latest novel, Helpless.
This is a provocative book on many levels. First, Gowdy dares to take us into the psyche of a pedophile-in-the-making. Ron is a vacuum cleaner repair man who has convinced himself that Rachel, a beautiful young girl he’s fascinated with, needs to be saved from her mother. Ron builds a special room for Rachel, a place full of games and toys, and–during a terrible storm–kidnaps Rachel and take her there.
Rachel’s Mom - Celia - another very provocative character, works at a video store during the day and plays at a piano bar in the evening. She’s a single Mom raising her daughter in Cabbagetown - an eclectic area of Toronto - a place where the well to do live cheek by jowl with some pretty colourful, and occasionally, downright dangerous characters.
And then there’s Ron’s girlfriend Nancy. She’s getting a wee bit long in the tooth and knows that there won’t be a lot of new men coming along. Nancy thinks Ron’s a nice guy, but every so often she gets to wondering - What’s going on down there in that room?
Buy Helpless