In a style reminiscent of Raymond Carver, the stories contained in ‘Animal’ depict people on the brink of major life change. They stand at crossroads they are often oblivious to; they suck thick air in rooms filled with palpable tension. Leggat’s characters often seem captured in a cinematic slo-mo, teetering on the edge of something unknown, heroically resisting the ever-present pull of Fate. It matters little whether the characters take action or refuse to act; life acts for them. The reader is left to wonder: when does “meaning” cease to have meaning? Like travelling a mountain highway at night, what’s just around the next bend is never known. The stories in ‘Animal’ never fail to deliver potent surprises.

“I’m tempted to say it’s a slim, distilled masterpiece.” – Michael Bryson, Underground Book Club

“These quickly unfolding stories are elliptically drawn, tense with action and dark humour. Leggat is a shape-shifting writer” – The Globe and Mail

“This immensely rewarding collection is worth picking up” – eye weekly

Finalist for the Trillium Book Award