Back Flip

June M. Blurton is a retired speech/language pathologist.

Was the Toronto art scene in 1967 really like this?

Back Flip, the name of an avant-garde painting, is central to this
novel. Surrounding it, and involved in its fate, are Canada’s foremost
abstract artist and his wife, a young painter the critics have chosen to
be his successor, two has-been painters who are waiting to be
rediscovered, two gallery owners who are at daggers drawn, a critic, a
wealthy collector and his fading-beauty wife, and a gallery assistant.
In addition to the art world, which binds these people together, there
are the infidelities and couplings (real or imagined), behind-the-scenes
self-serving dickering and double-crossing, more than a hint of
paranoia, and drinking and drugs.

Each member of the large cast of characters is well rounded, with
distinctive strengths and weaknesses. The background is recognizable,
but there are differences; this is the Toronto of nearly 40 years ago,
and very subtly the feel of a less vibrant, less multicultural city
comes through. The writing is straightforward and amusingly insightful.
The plot is anything but straightforward; almost every page features a
new twist that keeps the reader guessing.