Sean Farrell, a poet with a gift for instilling discomfort, is hosting Thanksgiving dinner for a dozen people, not all of whom know one another. But as the evening unfolds, the reader comes to know each of the guests intimately — their thoughts, aspirations, sufferings — and even to catch a glimpse of their individual futures. Nancy Huston excels at moving seamlessly between comedy and tragedy. Even the death of a beloved character is rendered through such absurd twists that laughter ultimately overwhelms sadness.