The Angel's Jig

Facing the dwindling years of his life, the old man waits for his turn on the auction block, hoping to be sold to a family as decent as the one he is leaving. It is not the first time he has been here, and it may not be the last. Mute in life but loquacious on the page, he tells the colourful story of his rootless past. Abandoned by his family and first auctioned off at the age of seven -- "Ladies and gentlemen, this boy may not be a rare gem, but he is certainly worth a look" -- he moves from oen farm to another, taking comfort from the people around him. Daniel Poliquin's work of piercing wit and insight revisits an all-but-forgotten era, when orphaned children and the elderly poor were auctioned into a form of indentured servitude. Narrated through the eyes and ears of an unforgettable protagonist, The Angel's Jig -- a finalist for the Trillium Award in its original French edition -- is a joyous meditation on identity and the unpredictable voyage of existence.