Eduardo, an architect from Lisbon, has come to Montreal to be with his wife Geneviève. Geneviève researches fungi and likes to catalogue her orgasms. But when Eduardo is caught in an explosion and rumors of arson begin to circulate, both his marriage and his fledgling architecture firm verge on collapse. Gorgeous, colourful, and richly described, Backspring is a sensual taxonomy of desire.

Judith McCormack's writing career has involved an unusually rapid trajectory. Her first short story was nominated for the 2000 Journey Prize. Her second story, `Plural`, won an honourable mention in The Fiddlehead's fiction contest, and has now been optioned for film by Genie-award-winning filmmaker Naomi McCormack. Her third story was published in Descant, and in 2001, she was one of three authors featured in the Coming Attractions anthology. A writer, a lawyer, a twin, and an insomniac -- for her, these things overlap. `Law is really about stories,` she says. `The idea of justice is a narrative, an elegantly twisted attempt to make sense of a haphazard world.` She should know -- she was recently awarded the Law Society Medal, the Ontario legal profession's highest honour. Judith lives in Toronto with her partner, Peter Dorfman, and their two children.

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