Working in downtown Halifax, I have definitely noticed that a lot of university students are back in town. In their honour, I offer up four novels featuring Halifax university students.
Taking Care of Aura is a story of longing set in Dalhousie University during the seventies.A young Sri Lankan man’s serious expectations for the future are thrown into disarray when he becomes entangled with a strange lost girl. Aura is alone for troubling reasons. But Kismet has set a path of desire before Raj and Aura.
“In this much-awaited sequel to Taking Care of Aura, Halifax writer A.E. King explores the fragility of love. Set at Dalhousie University in the 1970’s, Aura’s Dance continues the story of Raj, a dedicated Sri Lankan student, and Aura, as they try to determine a future. Coloured by cultural expectation and choreographed by tragedy, their dance together is one of grief and joy.”–Back cover
In Halifax, Nova Scotia, in the late 1980s, two young university students who share a tenuous grasp on morality and a desire to lead remarkable lives convince themselves to risk everything and rob a bank. Chris, the son of a police officer and the one with the charmed life, wants to test his theory that it’s impossible to get caught. His best friend and accomplice hopes that out of the adventure he’ll get the material for the great novel he’s destined to write. Like Butch and Sundance mixed with Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, they begin a crime spree that escalates in daring and comic misadventure until they collide with consequences that will mark them both for the rest of their lives.
“Reef has been living in Calgary for the past year, but now he’s back in Halifax for the funeral of Frank Colville, his former mentor. Memories of Frank compete with memories of Leeza and the terrible way their relationship ended. Mindful that the restraining order against him has been renewed by Leeza’s mother, Reef has no intention of staying in Halifax for long. Leeza, in the meantime, is feeling stifled by her mother’s concern. A first-year university student at Dalhousie, she is kicking herself for not attending university out of town. Despite Reef ‘s best efforts to stay away, circumstances quickly unfold to push him and Leeza ever closer to each other.” – publisher.
