LINDEN MacINTYRE's bestselling first novel, The Long Stretch, was nominated for a CBA Libris Award and his boyhood memoir, Causeway: A Passage from Innocence, won both the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-fiction and the Evelyn Richardson Award. His second novel, The Bishop's Man, was a #1 national bestseller, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Dartmouth Book Award and the CBA Libris Fiction Book of the Year Award, among other honours. The third book in the loose-knit trilogy, Why Men Lie, was also a #1 bestseller as well as a Globe and Mail "Can't Miss" Book. His novels Punishment and The Only Cafe were also national bestsellers, as was his 2019 work of non-fiction, The Wake. A distinguished broadcast journalist, MacIntyre, who was born in St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, and grew up in Port Hastings, Cape Breton, spent twenty-four years as the co-host of the fifth estate. He has won ten Gemini awards for his work. MacIntyre lives in Toronto with his wife, CBC radio host and author Carol Off. They spend their summers in a Cape Breton village by the sea.
“The Only Café will transfix you with its disquieting and
cautionary narrative. . . . [J]udicious and expertly timed. . . .
The Only Café’s elegant prose attains a lyrical quality. . . . [A]
testament to MacIntyre’s dexterity as a storyteller.” —The Globe
and Mail
“[S]pare, propulsive and rich in observational detail and dialogue.
. . . MacIntyre’s journalism training and experience . . . allow
him to explore Lebanon’s labyrinthine, multi-factional civil war
with authority and compassion.” —James Grainger, author of
Harmless, Toronto Star
“The Only Café is imbued with a feeling of lived authenticity.”
—Quill and Quire
“Unlike the cozy armchair mysteries of Agatha Christie—where
everything is wrapped up in a neat little bow by story’s end—The
Only Café argues that not all mysteries will be solved and perhaps
that’s for the best. MacIntyre’s characters insist that truth is a
fiction or at best an amorphous reality and that ‘the only way to
know what happens is to be part of it.’” —Atlantic Books
“Linden MacIntyre has mined his other life, as a venerable CBC
journalist, to pen The Only Café, and the novel works wonderfully.
. . . [A] twisty, literate thriller that ranks among the most
enjoyable novels I’ve read this year. International intrigue,
masterful storytelling and a sure hand make The Only Café a
compelling read.” —49th Shelf
“[A] taut, powerful novel.” —The Chronicle Herald
“[MacIntyre’s] trademark narrative skill makes the novel a
must-read. . . . As he traces Cyril’s progress, MacIntyre uses his
intriguing tale to underscore the futility of trying to erase the
past. One of MacIntyre’s strengths is his remarkable command of
dialogue. Conversations between characters are snappy, convincing
and laced with wit. Another strength is the writer’s ability to
observe, with a keen eye, the details of everyday life, both in
Toronto and in the Middle East.” —St. Thomas Times-Journal
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