Lost Highway

From the two-time winner of Canada’s prestigious Governor General’s Award, a suspenseful story of greed, betrayal, murder, and a lottery ticket that may or may not be worth millions.

For 20 years, Alex Chapman — a worn-out academic and failed priest — has been at war with his great-uncle James, a man known in his small-town community as “The Tyrant.” Embittered and disillusioned, Alex believes that James is responsible for his harsh childhood, for the loss of his one true love, and, ultimately, for the unfortunate direction his life has taken. So when Alex runs into the slow-witted local auto mechanic who claims he has just given James Chapman a winning lottery ticket worth thirteen million dollars, Alex sees his chance for revenge, and plots to steal the ticket away from his aging uncle.

Thus begins an emotionally shattering story of a family’s deep-seated grudges and dangerous passions, all set around a lonely, country road where rival provinces have converged for years. A chilling exploration of what happens when our moral questions become matters of life and death, The Lost Highway is a page-turning tale of small-town jealousy and corruption.

David Adams Richards’ most recent novel, The Friends of Meager Fortune, won the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book (Canada and the Caribbean). His novel River of the Brokenhearted, was received with immense critical acclaim. Mercy Among the Children won the 2000 Giller Prize and was nominated for the Governor General’s Award and the Trillium Award. He is the author of the celebrated Miramichi trilogy: Nights Below Station Street, winner of the Governor General’s Award; Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace, winner of the Canadian Authors Association Award; and For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down. His 1998 novel, The Bay of Love and Sorrows, has been made into a feature film.