"There is good luck, and there is bad luck, and then there's the ambiguous sort of luck that's a lot of this and some of the other."

Philip Lawrence, a robust and pleasure-loving furniture-maker, dies suddenly at the age of forty-six. Though that's terribly young by most standards, he's lucky to have passed presumably peacefully in his sleep. Less fortunate, however, are the three women he leaves behind to make sense of his loss.

There's Nora, his wife of seventeen years, who wakes up next to his dead body. A fiery visual artist, Nora's feminist re-interpretation of biblical themes stoked fundamentalist outrage from her small-town neighbours. Now, as her emotions run the gamut, she must confront solo life in a place she despises.

Nora shares the house with Sophie, a buxom and bossy redhead, who works as the couple's housekeeper and personal assistant. A recovering virtue addict, Sophie turns to menial tasks as a way to suppress painful memories of her two-year stint as an overseas aid worker. Philip's death leaves her quietly reeling.

And then there's the pliable and vacuous Beth, a former beauty queen, who serves as Nora's live-in muse and model. She mourns not Philip so much as the loss of a haven from her own creepy past.

The novel follows the three days immediately after Philip's death. Privately, each woman deals with memories and emotions, secrets and uncomfortable revelations, while at the same time preparing for the public rituals of mourning (including a funeral like no other). The narrative moves seamlessly from one perspective to another with delicious dark humour and wry insight into the nature of death, love, mourning, fundamentalism and luck.

Barfoot's tenth novel, Luck was shortlisted for the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize. The jury citation reads as follows: "Joan Barfoot is at the peak of her powers with this splendidly realized tragicomedy about a household in the wake of an unexpected death. With its note-perfect narration, mordant wit and wonderfully neurotic cast of characters, Luck shows how death can reveal life in all its absurdity and complexity. This scintillating comedy of manners is also a profound meditation on fate, love, and artifice."
About the Author: Joan Barfoot is the author of ten novels, including, Critical Injuries, which was longlisted for the 2002 Man Booker Prize and shortlisted for the 2001 Trillium Book Award. Her other works include Abra, which won the Books in Canada First Novel Award; Dancing in the Dark, which was adapted into an award-winning feature film; Duet for Three; Family News; Plain Jane; Charlotte and Claudia Keeping in Touch; Some Things About Flying and Getting Over Edgar. In 1992, she received the Marian Engel Award in recognition of her body of work.

Luck, Barfoot's most recent novel, was shortlisted for the 2005 Scotiabank Giller Prize. In an interview with the Calgary Herald, she discusses some of the issues she set out to explore in the novel: "Part of maturing as a writer is looking around the world ...I am increasingly alarmed by so much, in despair about fundamentalism of every description, because it makes people so stupid and violent. In this novel I wanted to explore the concept of fundamentalism because I understand the desire to have rules, to live by them, and to let everybody else go to hell. Narrowness is comforting, especially because once you know too much, you cannot unknow it."

On the subject of luck itself, Barfoot says in an interview with Publishers Weekly "I feel very lucky. I get to do pretty much exactly what I want, pretty much at any minute of the day. We 1% of the planet lead very lucky lives. And 99% of the world's population is enduring huge suffering. And I can't see beyond luck why that is."

Raised on a farm outside of Owen Sound, and a former newspaper journalist, Joan Barfoot lives in London, Ontario.