Among the strip malls, industrial parks and overpasses of Southwestern Ontario, Tim is a young misfit with an overactive imagination and a heavy-drinking father, surrounded by bullies at school and wondering if he’ll ever be normal. He experiences first love with another high school student, Sherrie, and at the same time he meets his first friend, Russ. In pursuing Sherrie, Tim is drawn into a cult-like religious retreat, and his friendship with Russ takes a strange turn as the three teenagers confront their vanishing childhood.

The Abandoned is the dense and dazzling follow up to Harness’s critically acclaimed novel, Wigford Rememberies.

Praise for Wigford Rememberies:

“Pen in hand, there seems to be nothing Harness cannot do.”—The Globe and Mail

“Kyp Harness’ prose has a unique flow: word and action, thought and thing are all contiguous and combined in lovely braided sentences. There’s some Joyce splashed around Wigford Rememberies, a satisfying read. This is a fantastic book. Please just read it.”—Tony Burgess

“Told with unshrinking honesty and real compassion …these characters and their stories will linger with readers.”—Publishers Weekly

Kyp Harness is a versatile artist. He is a musician who has written and recorded 200 songs on 13 independent recordings. Ron Sexsmith called him "one of the finest songwriters on the planet" and the Calgary Straight said of his work: "I won't mince words: Right now, Kyp Harness is the most vital, essential Canadian singer-songwriter out there." He has also written The Art of Laurel and Hardy (McFarland, 2006) and The Art of Charlie Chaplin (McFarland, 2008), and created the web comic Mortimer the Slug. He lives in Toronto, ON.

Kyp Harness' profile page

• Short-listed, ReLit Awards for Novel

“I first fell in love with Kyp Harness’s uniquely commanding, urgent narrative voice when I cranked his album The Floating World and I remember thinking: this guy needs to write a book! Now, here he is on his second literary outing and, true to form, the voice is no less arresting, relevant or brazenly lyrical. If anything this vivid new novel showcases an artist at the heights of his creative vision. CanLit would be well served if he writes at least ten more.”

Joel Thomas Hynes, author of <i>We’ll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night</i>