Toronto is not a place Daniel Foster wants to be for very long. If not for his daughter Mary being in financial trouble, he would not be here at all. What he really wants is to be back in the Arabian Peninsula or, better yet, on a plane leading to retirement in Thailand. But when the bank that holds his million-dollar savings crashes, he realizes he will be stuck in Toronto much longer than he expected. Forced to move in with Mary and her daughter Shawna, Foster must relearn everything he thought he knew: job skills, parenting, even how to love again.

Passing Through is a funny and thought-provoking look at what it takes to keep going after losing everything.

David Penhale is a published poet. He spent several years in Dubai, and honed his first novel, Passing Through, at writing workshops at the University of Iowa. Penhale now lives in Toronto, where he teaches writing and is working on a second novel.

David Penhale's profile page

“Penhale … [has] the ability to catch those fleeting, telling moments where people talk to and past one another.”

Literary Review of Canada

“One of the funniest books of the year.”

National Post