A collection of short stories that develop through people who seem to live at the edge of the world, always in danger of falling off that edge.

Jack Hodgins' first book, published originally in 1976, is once again in print -- in a new edition. Winner of the Eaton's Book Prize and nominated for the Governor General's Award, this is a collection of short stories, put Vancouver Island on the map as a Canadian literary locale and set Hodgins off on his literary career. Often compared to Faulkner's fiction of the deep South, Hodgins' stories develop through people who seem to live at the edge of the world, always in danger of falling off that edge. There is Spit himself, the keeper of a steam locomotive that has been exiled to Ottawa for display; there are loggers, country wives, bookstore owners, and people who "live up the mountain" in isolated communes.