Like Every Form of Love by Padma Viswanathan

Padma Viswanathan was staying on a houseboat on Vancouver Island when she struck up a friendship with a warm-hearted, working-class queer man named Phillip. Their lives were so different it seemed unlikely to Padma that their relationship would last after she returned to her usual life. But, that week, Phillip told her a story from his childhood that kept them connected for more than twenty years.

Phillip was the son of a severe, abusive man named Harvey, a miner, farmer and communist. After Phillip's mother left the family, Harvey advertised for a housekeeper-with-benefits. And so Del, the most glamorous and loving of stepmothers, stepped into Phillip's life. Del had hung out with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in Mexico City before the Cuban revolution; she was also a convicted bank robber who had violated her parole and was suspected in her ex-husband's murder. Phillip had long since lost track of Del, but when Padma said she'd like to write about her and about his own young life, he eagerly agreed. Quickly, though, Padma's research uncovered hidden truths about these larger-than-real-life characters. Watching the effects on Phillip as these secrets, evasions and traumas came to light, she increasingly feared that when it came to the book or the friendship, only one of them would get out of this process alive.

In this unforgettable memoir, Padma reflects on the joys and frictions of this strange journey with grace, humour and poetry, including original readings of Hans Christian Andersen fairytales and other stories that beautifully echo her characters' adventures and her own. Like Every Form of Love is that rare thing: an irresistible literary page-turner that twists and turns, delivering powerful revelations, right to the very end.

(From Random House Canada)

• 46 works of Canadian nonfiction to read in fall 2023

Padma Viswanathanis a fiction writer whohas been published in eight countries. She's been shortlisted for thePEN USA Prize and the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Originally from Edmonton,she now divides her time between Montreal,and Fayetteville, Arkansas, where she is Professor of Fiction at the University of Arkansas.

Interviews withPadma Viswanathan

Giller Prize: Poetry that inspires Padma Viswanathan

10 years ago

Duration 1:10

Giller Prize: Poetry that inspires Padma Viswanathan

Giller prize: Padma Viswanathan reads from The Ever After of Ashwin Rao

10 years ago

Duration 2:00

Padma Viswanathan, Giller finalist, reads from her nominated novel The Ever After of Ashwin Rao and describes the moment she thought she didn't make the cut.