The Perpetual Ending

by Kristen Den Hartog

Reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm's darkly magical tales, The Perpetual Ending tells an enchanting story about devoted sisters and their world of opposites, doppelgangers and ghosts. Jane and Eugenie Ingrams are mirror-image twins, two halves of a whole, each understanding her world through the other. But their parents are less perfectly matched. When the couple separates and their father urges the girls to return with him to their rural home, Eugenie agrees for the sake of her sister—an ultimately tragic concession. Years later, Jane works as a writer in Vancouver creating rich, fabulist tales with her lover Simon, a gifted illustrator. Estranged from her parents and haunted by her secret family history, Jane finds solace in these stories of extraordinary characters—a girl who trades her laughter for a scalpful of cobwebs; a lonely child with unquenchable thirst; an orphan with the gift, or curse, of prophecy. Within the stories lie clues to Jane’s past, of which Simon knows nothing. At once wondrous and psychologically compelling, The Perpetual Ending is an exploration of love and artistry that shows the world in all of its grotesqueness and beauty—and uncovers the surprising ways we can arrive at the heart of one story through the telling of others.

Genres: Fiction

Paperback

First published January 7, 2003

About the author

Kristen den Hartog is a novelist and non-fiction writer whose novels have won the Alberta Trade Fiction Book of the Year and been shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award and the Trillium Award. She is the co-author (with her sister Tracy Kasaboski) of two previous non-fiction books: The Occupied Garden: A Family Memoir of War-torn Holland, a Globe & Mail Top 100 selection, and The Cowkeeper’s Wish, praised by Canada’s History as a blend of “graceful prose” and “meticulous research on a stupendous scale.” Work on these two books — intimate histories of ordinary families — sparked the writing of The Roosting Box and den Hartog’s ongoing interest in how war changes the direction of people’s lives so dramatically. Kristen den Hartog lives in Lyndhurst, Ontario, and also in the west end of Toronto, not far from the site of the former Christie Street Hospital.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

again - canada equals beautiful. and despite my natural aversion to twins, and the fact that i am dead inside, i was... moved. i felt a deep sorrow from this book that gave me shivers. i discovered this book playing the library game with "magical realism" as the keyword but don't be fooled - it's not. at all. it's just a sad family story interspersed with fairy tales the character has written which are less fairy tales and more thinly veiled personal stories too bleak and sexualized for children. no magic except in the skill of the canadian author. i think i'm going to have to move. take me, canada!

come to my blog!

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most beautiful books I've ever read. I found myself reading it in bits, savoring every word, never wanting it to end.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. It was like nothing I ha read before. I really loved the parables intermingled throughout. I will definitely look for more books by this author.