Jean becomes obsessed with meeting Ingrid and spends an enormous amount of time hanging out in Bellevue Square, where Ingrid has often been spotted, to see if she can run into her. She learns from those people that her lookalike is named Ingrid Fox and that she is a crime writer. More people claim to have seen Jean’s doppelgänger around Kensington Market. This sets a disturbing and somewhat puzzling chain of events into motion. Later, he’s found dead in his apartment having hanged himself. Jean’s continued denials make Mr Ronan angry and he becomes violent towards her. “I have a sister, but she’s older than me and we look nothing alike. Your hair was up to here!” He chopped at the base of his skull. “You were wearing grey slacks and a black top with little gold lines on it. He had a disagreeable expression on his face, a look halfway between fear and anger. Jean, confused, wants to know what he’s talking about. One day one of her regular customers, Mr Ronan, questions her ability to change clothing and hairstyles in a matter of minutes. When the book opens we meet first person narrator Jean Mason, who is married with two children and runs a bookstore in downtown Toronto. The opening chapters have all the hallmarks of a mystery thriller, but mid-way through it takes a dramatic turn and becomes a wonderful examination of mental illness, consciousness, identity and the blurring of lines between truth, reality and imagination. But when I picked up this book - ordered on import from Canada (there doesn’t even seem to be a UK publication date) - I discovered that it’s so-called billing wasn’t entirely correct.īellevue Square is one of those novels that starts off as one thing before it morphs into another. When I found out that Michael Redhill’s Bellevue Square was billed as a thriller, I wondered how it had slipped onto this year’s Giller Prize shortlist, which is primarily for literary fiction. Fiction – hardcover Doubleday Canada 262 pages 2017.
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