"Between the bare branches, through their belated flower absences, I can see them. Going towards him one after another, first the one boy whipping and then the next boy whipping. Then the rest of the boys go ahead and whip him together a while. . . ."

A compassionate inquiry into the psychology of obsession and the frail and befuddled mind of a deeply haunted man, this gripping, tragic and densely atmospheric novel follows the exploits of one Chris Needham as he attempts to traverse the minefield of post-married life along the pockmarked moonscape of the British Columbia coast.
Examining the joy of love, the elusiveness of truth, the price of infidelity and the capacity for sorrow lurking beneath the surface of everyday experience, Leaving Lovestiff Annie is a virtuoso piece of writing that will leave the reader shaken and changed.