At the age of eighty, Don Gillmor's grandmother let slip the defining secret of her life: her twin sister Jean was not her twin, but her aunt, and her family had emigrated from Scotland to Winnipeg to escape the stigma of her illegitimacy. That revelation set Gillmor off on what seemed at first like the most personal of quests: to track down his ancestors. The Desire of Every Living Thing is also the story of the New World, the story of Winnipeg, the story of this country. Both an evocative family memoir and a brilliant feat of historical imagination, the book's most moving theme is how the discarded past haunts and shapes our lives without us even noticing.
- ISBN10 0679310703
- ISBN13 9780679310709
- Publish Date 24 October 2000
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Publish Country CA
- Imprint Vintage Canada
- Format Paperback (US Trade)
- Pages 288
- Language English
- URL https://penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/isbn/9780679310709