The Pagan Nuptials of Julia chronicles the lives of ordinary English-speaking Quebeckers who "did not go the other way" down the 401, a neglected Canadian minority that saw its treasured world sacrificed by statist deceit and disowned with "stricken, evasive looks" even by its own kind.
With a vivid, contrarian insight, Keith Henderson shows us that not all change is even-handed or mending, and that when it embodies "refinement" and "necessary humanity," the Past merits passionate preservation.
Contemplating these at times gothic, always superbly crafted tales, alert readers will find themselves querying their fashionable complacencies while they ponder a vision conservative in the very best of senses — one that revives the classical faith in human bonds and meaning, and prompts us to remember that we are "born into the arms of love."
Reminiscent of the works of Hawthorne, Mansfield, Mann, and Sinclair Ross, Keith Henderson's The Pagan Nuptials of Julia presents the brilliant, interrogative creations of one of Canada's finest "journalists of the soul."
Keith Henderson was born in Montreal. Educated at McGill, Concordia, and the University of Toronto, he teaches English at Vanier College in Montreal.
Henderson served as leader of Quebec's provincial Equality Party from 1993 - 2003.
"A remarkably erudite collection that displays an impressive versatility."
— The Gazette
"The Pagan Nuptials of Julia takes us from Montreal to rural Italy, where Julia was born.... It's a story that says something profound about the human condition. It feeds the soul.... "
— The Globe and Mail
"This book is an interesting well written collection of stories told from a variety of viewpoints — male, female, young, old, married, single, divorced. "
— The Montreal Review of Books
"As leader of Quebec's Equality Party from 1993 to 2003, Keith Henderson was hardly shy about expressing his views on the rights of English-speaking Quebecers. In The Pagan Nuptials of Julia Henderson shrewdly weaves his political insights into nine fictional tales of Anglos who remained in Quebec to deal with an increasingly difficult situation."
— Concordia University Magazine, December 2005
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