Tracing Iris

Lynne Perras teaches communication arts at the University of Calgary.

This powerful and gripping novel explores parent–child relationships,
marriage, friendship, appearance versus reality, and the importance of
seeking—and accepting—truth.

Kate Mason, a 30-something social anthropologist, returns to her
childhood home to visit her father, Joe, following the death of her
stepmother. Kate’s work and personal relationships are in shambles,
and she drinks excessively to cope. Once home, she embarks on a search
for her mother, Iris, who abandoned her and Joe when Kate was only four
years old. Using her anthropological skills, Kate investigates Iris’s
past and discovers that things are rarely what they initially seem to
be. Her assumptions about the people in her life are shattered, but by
the end of the novel she summons the strength to begin her life anew.

Gunn’s sixth book features a fast-paced plot, convincing dialogue,
and complex and fascinating characters, including an intriguing heroine
who elicits from the reader both sympathy and exasperation.