A poignant novel imbued with music from the Giller Prize — shortlisted author of Like This and Twenty-Six that follows two social outcasts as they navigate through their traumatic pasts.

The worst moment of Sam's life was captured on video and shared across the Internet for all to gawk at. This is something she has in common with Robot, who just wants to move past the mistakes he's made, if only his small town will let him. When the two meet in a high school music class, they start to find their way to each other. Music might offer a way not only forward, but forward together, if Sam and Robot can overcome the echoes of the moments that made them infamous.

The past reverberates in ways we don't expect, in this new novel by Giller Prize — shortlisted author Leo McKay, Jr. From family secrets and old relationships that resurface, to the tape loops that endlessly replay private moments of trauma and despair, What Comes Echoing Back travels back and forth in time to get to what's true, with humour, humanity, and the healing power of music.

Leo McKay Jr.'s best known book is the novel Twenty-Six, which Canada Reads named one of the forty most important Canadian books of the first decade of the century. It won the Dartmouth Book Award and was chosen for the One Book Nova Scotia event. His debut collection of stories, Like This, also won the Dartmouth Book Award, and was a finalist for the Giller Prize. He lives in Mi'kma'ki, the unceded, ancestral home of the Mi'kmaw people, where he has been a high school teacher for almost thirty years.

Leo McKay Jr.'s profile page

"Leo McKay Jr. writes contemporary novels that read like classics pulled off the shelf of favourites. I'm in awe, simultaneously heartbroken and uplifted with a quiet sort of courage. He really is the bard of the underdog. McKay is a brilliant storyteller. What Comes Echoing Back is compelling, captivating and expertly crafted, a novel heralding the return of an essential voice in Canadian literature."
— CHRISTY-ANN CONLIN, author of The Speed of Mercy

"This is Leo McKay Jr. at his best: furious, funny, wise, and powered by profound empathy. No writer cares for their characters more. On one level, this is a hard contemporary story about the toxic mix of technology and violence in today's high schools, but at another, deeper level, it is also a hymn to the healing power of art. Listen to What Comes Echoing Back. It's one of those tender, beautiful songs that you already know, but need to hear again and again."
— ALEXANDER MACLEOD, author of Animal Person

"Leo McKay, as ever, writes with depth and tender insight. This story of two young people caught up in a violent online vortex is timely, heartbreaking and completely inspiring."
— LYNN COADY, author of Watching You Without Me

"The story unspools slowly, moving back and forth in time and in between the two characters. It's a testament to McKay's craftmanship that this transpires seamlessly. Slowly the tension builds as we reach the pivotal moment in each of their backstories. These sections, leading up to the horrible events that will scar their lives forever, are astounding.... [A] fine novel." — Broken Pencil magazine