About the Author

ALISSA YORK's internationally acclaimed novels include Mercy, Effigy (shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize), Fauna and, most recently, The Naturalist. She is also the author of the short fiction collection, Any Given Power, stories from which have won the Journey Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Award. Her essays and articles have appeared in such periodicals as The Guardian, The Globe and Mail and Canadian Geographic. York has lived all over Canada and now makes her home in Toronto with her husband, artist Clive Holden.

Reviews

NATIONAL BESTSELLER

“Rich and strange and deeply satisfying. Whether she’s adopting the voice of a homeless teen, a yuppy vet, or a famished coyote, York writes with a spare, unsentimental fluency that connects strangers, enemies, species. Fauna reminds us of the life that swoops and slithers and lopes and pounces all around us, even in the most urban of worlds; a wild life we share and ignore at our peril.” —Annabel Lyon, author of The Golden Mean
 
“Fauna is the sort of rare novel that can change the way you see your world. Its cast of misfits and dreamers is united by their visceral connection to the forgotten animals surviving in the green patches of our big cities. This book is beautiful, unusual and memorable. And Alissa York is a daring and original talent.” —Jim Lynch, author of Border Songs

“Layered with astonishing detail, with every location vividly evoked and every action a visceral experience.” —The Globe and Mail

“One of the novel’s strengths is the way York turns her gaze from the human world to the world of Toronto’s skunks, coyotes, raccoons and squirrels. . . . Even as she brings animals to life with her writing, she is clear about the terrible toll taken by everything from cars, to skyscraper windows, to live electrical wires.” —Winnipeg Free Press
 
“Lyrical. . . . Fauna is well crafted, morally serious and even noble in its sensitivity.” —Toronto Star
 
“An extraordinary novel. . . . Daring and exceptional.” —Quill & Quire (starred review)
 
“A tender and beautiful novel.” —NOW (Toronto)