Headhunter

On a winter’s day, while a blizzard raged through the streets of Toronto, Lilah Kemp inadvertently set Kurtz free from page 92 of Heart of Darkness.

Timothy Findley

Headhunter

1993

There is something irresistible about a book that refers to another book you’ve read. And to mention it in the opening line is positively obsession-producing. Not only did I at once buy and read Headhunter, I also reread Heart of Darkness almost immediately thereafter, as my recollection of it was somewhat dim. I started by skipping ahead to page 92, of course, only to discover that the passage in question was not, in fact, on page 92 of the battered, borrowed, high-school-compulsory-reading edition sitting on my bookshelf. Not long after, I stood in line for an inordinately long time to have Timothy Findley (“Tif”, to those in the know) sign my copy of his latest novel, Pilgrim, and told him that I had read The Wars and Headhunter one after the other. He smiled, shook his head, and something about me being brave. I’ve read a lot of Findley, and Headhunter is my absolute favourite.