About the Author

FRANCES ITANI has written eighteen books. Her novels include That's My Baby; Tell, shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize; Requiem, chosen by the Washington Post as one of the top fiction titles of 2012; Remembering the Bones, published internationally and shortlisted for a Commonwealth Writers' Prize; and the #1 bestseller Deafening, which won a Commonwealth Writers' Prize and was shortlisted for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Published in seventeen territories, Deafening was also selected for CBC's Canada Reads. A three-time winner of the CBC Literary Prize, Frances Itani is a Member of the Order of Canada and the recipient of a 2019 Library and Archives Canada Scholars Award. She lives in Ottawa.

Reviews

"Itani's company is Always Worth Keeping but this new set of characters is grieving in surprising and diverse and sometimes embarrassing ways, and doing it so wholeheartedly and experimentally, that I jumped into the group of them for good and keeps. This is a book that brings comfort and joy." -- Linda Spalding, Governor General's Award-winning author of The Purchase"The Company We Keep is a multifaceted meditation on the living world of grief, starting with the irony of its title. With her characteristic compassion and gentle humour, Frances Itani brings us to Hazzley's Grief Discussion Group, where we learn that grief assumes many guises - and isn't always for the departed." -- Wayne Grady, author of Up From Freedom"This charming, uplifting portrait of strangers brought together by loss is a testament to the common roots of our suffering. Itani's writing is familiar in all the best ways - cozy and comforting, like a letter from an old friend. Like grief itself, it leads us to unexpected and tender places." -- Dr. Jillian Horton, author of We Are All Perfectly Fine"Frances Itani leads us away from a raucous world of politics and plagues in this insightful examination of lives left ragged by the surprising complexity of grief." -- Linden MacIntyre, Scotiabank Giller Prize-winning author of The Bishop's Man and The WakePraise for That's My Baby: "Itani writes with a quiet grace, an acute attention to detail and a keen, empathic awareness of things not said, of secrets and hidden emotional truths... the beauty and force of the novel cannot be denied." -- Toronto Star"Itani's prose is seductive ... That's My Baby is a satisfying offering by an author who never fails to delight." -- Quill & Quire"Itani's vivid storytelling, infused with music and seamless historical detail, reveals how memory, no matter how imperfect, can shape the person we believe ourselves to be." -- CBC Books"A poignant story of love and sacrifice . . . . This is yet another unforgettable novel from a Canadian literary icon." -- Winnipeg Free PressPraise for Tell: "Masterful ... To read Tell is to drop seamlessly into the lives of [characters] so vivid and well drawn readers will celebrate their victories and cry alongside their anguish ... An enthralling reminder of the toll the war - and all wars - take, not only on the soldiers but on the families who keep faith on the home front." -- Toronto Star"Gravely beautiful... Itani's prose is at its best in her lyrical descriptions of landscape... The historical research behind the novel is impeccable." -- New York Times"Tell is a treasure: serious with humorous moments, potent and controlled, subtle yet deeply moving." -- Shortlisted for the 2014 Scotiabank Giller Prize - Jury Citation"A heart-wrenching story of hope and sacrifice, of human error and unconventional healing, in which the characters must test the strength of their love for one another in order to break free from the shadows of the past." -- Chatelaine"A wonderful story, with a richly detailed sense of time and place, and compelling characters who, ultimately, all have secrets to tell." -- Winnipeg Free Press