A poverty-stricken guitar virtuoso navigates the political landscape of nineteenth-century Parisian society as he comes out of retirement for one final concert. A sessional instructor competing for the prestigious Interdisciplinary Chair in Aretha Franklin studies gets sidetracked by her obsession with a mysterious student in a yellow hat. A dying doo-wop DJ and his wife try to bridge the estrangement wrought by illness as they travel in search of the horns, drums, and vocals of highlife. In the eleven stories that make up The Doctrine of Affections, Paul Headrick takes us on a fascinating journey into the heart of music. From the perfectly honed decrescendo of a symphony’s string section to the down-home chord progressions at a late-night kitchen party, Headrick’s stories question the subtle differences between hearing and listening, and communicating and understanding. The subjects of this collection are soloists, ensemble players, scholars, collectors, and lovers of music, but their experiences with risk, religion, relief, and often regret make their stories resonate for readers who are hearing their songs for the first time.

Paul Headrick’s first novel, That Tune Clutches My Heart, was a finalist for the Ethel Wilson Prize—the BC Book Prize for Fiction. The Doctrine of Affections, a short story collection unified by the theme of music, was a finalist for an Alberta Book Award. Stories from that book appeared in The Malahat Review, The Antigonish Review, Event, and The Journey Prize Anthology.

Paul's literary studies took him to Montreal, Toronto, and London, England before he resettled in his hometown of Vancouver. He taught English literature and creative writing at Langara College, as well as giving short story workshops at writers' festivals from Denman Island, BC, to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Paul currently teaches a graduate workshop on novel and memoir writing with Simon Fraser University's Writers' Studio.

Paul Headrick's profile page

“With only two books to his name, Paul Headrick has already established himself as a subtle and charming writer with a great subject, which is music in all its manifestations—Sinatra and Crosby, opera, highlife, baroque, a single mother singing her child to sleep with jazz standards, a traveller comforting his mule on a long, all-night trek. Through his characters, Headrick shows us just how much music may move us, even to the point of altering our lives. Musicians and music lovers, I recommend this book to you. To the tone-deaf and the tin-eared (pity us!), I prescribe it.”

Caroline Adderson