[non]disclosure

Name: [non]disclosure
Brand: Second Story Press
SKU: 9781772603927
Price: 22.95 CAD
Availability: InStock

By Renée D. Bondy

$22.95

Format

A secret is a life sentence, a permanent gag order more effective than duct tape across the mouth.

A young girl is abused by her Catholic priest. For years she tells no one, striving to meet her parents and teachers’ expectations that she be a Good Girl—passive, obedient, and devout.

When she learns as an adult that she was not his only victim—there were dozens more—the ensuing criminal trial threatens to overwhelm her. Disassembled by the abuse, she finds community working in an underground hospice for men dying from the still-taboo HIV-AIDS epidemic of the 1980s. In their midst, she recognizes the damage wrought by shame and silence, but she also finds incredible courage and love.

A profound story of finding your voice and healing what feels irrevocably broken.

Praise & Recognition

"A superb work! [non]disclosure by Renée D. Bondy speaks to us of the struggle of the individual to maintain hope in the face of institutional self-interest and actionable blindness. In her first novel, Bondy has accomplished something quite astonishing: a compelling meditation on the power of kindness told in an engrossing narrative with palpably real characters."

André Narbonne, author of the Scotiabank Giller Prize–nominated Lucien and Olivia

“With a historian’s thoughtful attention to context and detail and a storyteller’s gift for evocation and immersion, Renée D. Bondy has composed a powerful narrative that pushes our horizons of understanding. These skills are married to the palpable spirit of a writer propelled by empathy, integrity, and love. In Bondy’s hands, hope feels worth the risk.”

author of Ink Earl

“A true masterclass on the power of solidarity and how community can either sustain us or drag us under. Equal parts gut-wrenching and beautiful, [non]disclosure is a powerful novel that sticks with you. A must-read.”

author of Resilience Is Futile: The Life and Death and Life of Julie S. Lalonde