Book Description
Then, Donal Keneally, an Irish giant who thought he could invent the world, led a band of faithful followers from rural Ireland to Vancouver Island in search of Eden. In the course of his search, he founded the Revelations Colony of Truth.

Now, Maggie Kyle runs an extraordinary boarding house on the original site of the Colony, and she and her irrepressible boarders search out Keneally’s story as a key to their own roots and even the possibility of love.

Originally published in 1977, The Invention of the World is Jack Hodgins’ first novel.


From the Inside Flap
Then, Donal Keneally, an Irish giant who thought he could invent the world, led a band of faithful followers from rural Ireland to Vancouver Island in search of Eden. In the course of his search, he founded the Revelations Colony of Truth.

Now, Maggie Kyle runs an extraordinary boarding house on the original site of the Colony, and she and her irrepressible boarders search out Keneally’s story as a key to their own roots and even the possibility of love.

Originally published in 1977, The Invention of the World is Jack Hodgins’ first novel.

About the Author
Jack Hodgins was born and raised on Vancouver Island. He taught Creative Writing at a number of Canadian universities, and retired from the University of Victoria in 2002.

He is the author of seven novels, including The Invention of the World; The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne, winner of the Governor General’s Award; The Macken Charm; Broken Ground, winner of the Ethel Wilson Prize for Fiction; and Distance; and three books of short stories, Spit Delaney’s Island, a finalist for the Governor General’s Award; The Barclay Family Theatre; and Damage Done by the Storm. He is also the author of A Passion for Narrative: A Guide for Writing Fiction.

Hodgins has been awarded the Canada-Australia Prize, among many others, has received three honorary degrees, and has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.


From the Hardcover edition.

FROM THE PUBLISHER