Cameron Dodds has just turned thirty. A writer, he get his ideas from the lives of others, often borrowing stories from the patients of his workplace, the Salvation Army Treatment Centre. When one of the patients, Darrel Greene, hangs himself, Cameron sees a great opportunity for a story -- maybe even a novel. He begins to research Darrel's past, and decides to visit his sister, June, a grown woman with Down's Syndrome. As Cameron develops a relationship with June and delves further into Darrel's past, he makes many discoveries, none of which is more surprising than the one he makes about himself.

 

First published in 2003, Still Life with June won the 2004 ReLit Award and was nominated for the 2003 Pearson Canada Readers' Choice Book Award. It was also a finalist for the Ferro-Grumley Award for LGTB Fiction in 2005, and was named a 2003 Best Book of the Year by NOW Magazine.

Darren Greer grew up in several towns in Nova Scotia, including Greenfield and Liverpool. He studied literature at the University of King¹s College, Halifax, as well as Carleton University, Ottawa. His first novel, Tyler's Cape, was published in March 2001 to critical acclaim and was on the bestseller list of the Halifax Chronicle-Herald. Still Life With June was nominated for the Pearson Readers' Choice Award at The Word On The Street, Toronto, in 2003 and is the Winner of the 2004 ReLit Award. His 2014 novel Just Beneath My Skin is the winner of the 2015 Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award and the official selection for One Book Nova Scotia 2015.

Darren Greer's profile page

• Short-listed, Ferro-Grumley Award
• Winner, ReLit Award
• Commended, <i>NOW Magazine</i> Top 10
• Short-listed, Pearson Canada Readers’ Choice Book Award

“It’s hilarious and redemptive, brimming with revelation ... modern and urban without being too edgy for the masses. This book is highly recommended.”

Edmonton Journal

“Still Life with June is not a pretty story, but it is a good one. Greer’s every sentence seems so honest. His book was written with courage, and read in one sitting.”

New Brunswick Reader

“Darren Greer’s Still Life With June, his excellent second novel, creeps up on you slowly and subtly, creating an atmosphere of tension and dread through fascinating characters … Greer’s characters are strikingly believable and his dilemmas disturbing.”

NOW Magazine

“It will stay with you for days.”

Swerve

“Greer’s observations of addiction and corporate domination … are indeed sharp, his narrative voice infectious.”

The Globe and Mail

“Still Life With June was, by page 9 or 10, clearly going to be of the best books I’d read all year. Before I’d finished it, it had become a plain favourite book of mine. It’s all there: great writing, a distinctive style, an engaging story told in a calculated way … it is an unforgettable and infectious novel. Few writers give us a book this memorable, re-readable, and original.”

Salty Ink

“Greer’s pithy prose keeps things moving quickly, and culminates in a realization and event that can be seen coming, much like a train’s lamp through a darkened tunnel. But when that realization hits, it smacks with the force of that train, one that’s packing a lifetime of emotional freight … the cruel baggage of events and tragedies long sublimated and hard reckonings not faced, until now. It’s all about identity, and facing yourself down.”

The Hamilton Spectator

“[Greer is] a rare writing talent.”

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix