Praise forWe Are All of Us Left Behind

This captivating comingofage story offers a masterclass of rhythm and pacing It took every ounce of my discipline to not glance ahead a few pages to see where this novel would take me next Bradley Somer has a gift of making everything he writes about feel so palpable His descriptions of the heat the cold the loneliness the human connections the yearning for connection the awkwardness of things said and left unsaid make this book a wonderful read Ali Hassan actor comedian host of CBCs Canada Reads

The adolescent narrator of Bradley SomersWe Are All of Us Left Behindlives a desperate hardscrabble life on societys margins Without family or friends he embarks on a search for a grandfather he has never met which takes him from a dusty prairie town to Belgrade via Amsterdam and Rome a journey filled with curious encounters and interesting characters In spare lean poetic prose Bradley Somer relates a compelling deeply thoughtful story about a young mans urgent need to live EM Forsters famous dictum Only connect It is a novel of the moment a reminder that compassion is a necessity It will stick in my mind for a long time Guy Vanderhaeghe threetime Governor Generals Award winning author

Somers latest novel is a frenzied and ravaging descent into the underworld an autopsied travelogue of canyons and neon lights and lacerated bodies the deep wounds and flayed silhouettes of wayward experience Its like being startled into some transgressive cathedral by Chuck Palahniuk and finding oneself staring at a ceiling fresco in the style of vagabonds and miscreants think Jean Genet of being overcome with the notion that one is falling upwards toward revelation Nicholas Herring author ofSome Hellishwinner of the Atwood Gibson Writers Trust Fiction Prize

We Are All of Us Left Behindhooked me on its first line with its first lie In sparse and propulsive prose Bradley Somer perfectly captures the lonely desire for love and security in a mean chaotic world made bearable through hard won moments of aching beauty and human connection A survival story for our times Angie Abdou bestselling author ofIn Case I GoandThe Bone Cage

The quiet beauty of Somers writing shifts a story of longing and despair into a vital meditation on hope and human connectionWe Are All of Us Left Behindis a propulsive work of staggering ingenuity by an unsung hero of modern Canadian literature Ali Bryan author ofThe Crow Valley Karaoke Championships

We Are All of Us Left Behindis a gritty intimate portrait of a young mans hard life made softer by the kindness of strangers I was deeply moved by the delicate intensity of Somers prose and by the hope ultimately that he finds in humanity Emily Saso author ofNine Dash LineandThe Weather Inside

We Are All of Us Left Behindis a keenly observed and deeply compassionate novel about resilience and the innate human desire for connection Somer takes us on a raw heartfelt and epic trek from the unforgiving Canadian prairies to the simmering streets of Rome to the idyllic Serbian countryside as we follow a young mans struggle to rise above his circumstances and find his place in the world A brave honest and uncompromising book Thodora Armstrong author ofClear Skies No Wind 100 Visibility

Risky rough and tender this gripping novel bridges friends and lies people and hope the essential truth in leaving past lives behind Lee Kvern author ofCatch You on the Flip Side

Praise for Bradley Somer

Somer tackles loneliness life love and death with wit and sensitivityGlobe and Mail

Enjoyable touches of farce and wry asides abound underscoring moments of reckoning in eccentric yet deeply human dilemmasPublishers Weekly

a marvellous portrayal of the tentative and often funny ways human beings muddle about trying to connect with one anotherToronto Star