Kathryn Para’s debut novel begins at its climax. An injured woman is pushed out of a moving vehicle and dumped onto a roadside in a war-torn Middle Eastern city. As she limps along the road, trying to get her bearings, a dog wanders past her with a bloated hand in its jaws…
Lucky follows the story of Ani Lund, a 30-something Canadian photojournalist who specializes in “conflict” photography. It is Ani’s job to travel to various hotspots in the Middle East and document the brutalities of war. From the very first pages of the novel, Para skillfully ratchets up the suspense. We wonder what horrific incident Ani has just survived. Is it kidnapping? Is it torture? Is it the death of colleagues, friends? Whatever its specifics, we understand that Ani has crossed over: she is no longer an objective witness to war. She has become its victim.
Hannah Moscovitch is a Toronto-based playwright. Her plays—East of Berlin, Little One, This is War—have won the Toronto Critics Award and been nominated for the Governor General’s Award. She was a writer on CBC’s hit radio drama Afghanada.
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