The compelling plot of Nancy Bauer’s fifth novel, The Irrational Doorways of Mr. Gerard, winds through Cornwall, Quebec City, and the Eastern Townships, New England, and the Fredericton area of New Brunswick. Full of vivid description and eccentric characters, the story brings to life the strange relationships between Arlene, her daughter Alice, and her “found” daughter Andrea, on one side, and their benefactor, James, and the mysterious Mr. Gerard, on the other. The startling dénouement at last fits all the mysterious pieces together.

At another level, The Irrational Doorways of Mr. Gerard integrates the delicate complexity of Tao philosophy with matriarchal mythology, the disorientation of the picaresque, the character-substitution games of classical comedy, and the heightened detail of magic realism. Bauer’s post-modern blend leads the reader through a story full of intrigue into the world of the spirit.