Testimonials for The Rules of Engagement, by Catherine Bush

C A T H E R I N E B U S H

Testimonials for

The Rules of Engagement

"Catherine Bush ... is ... a high-risk author, intellectually unafraid.... She traverses war zones - psychological, sexual, real - with a clear-eyed, cerebral sophistication ... exhilarating ..."
-Catherine Lockerbie, The New York Times Book Review

"Lucidly written ... and exquisitely plotted."
-Entertainment Weekly

"Catherine Bush has written that rare book, an intriguing novel of ideas peopled with characters who live on in memory long after their issues have been resolved ... fiercely intelligent and ultimately romantic ..."
-The San Francisco Chronicle

"Bush’s terse, elegant, often sensuous prose draws us swiftly into her protagonist’s intelligent yet troubled mind. Her fusion ... of the political and the personal is not only ambitious, but compelling and provocative: a thoughtful attempt to examine the nature of love and risk."
-The Los Angeles Times

" ‘The Rules of Engagement’ is tautly constructed, with a thriller’s pace and tension ... Bush writes novels as brainy as they are poignant. For my money, there is no higher recommendation."
-Dan Cryer, Newsday.

"Suspenseful, minutely observed ... a sort of secular humanist manifesto ..."
-The Village Voice.

"Bush skillfully sets up a continuing parallel between questions of personal responsibility in love, and larger questions of risk and intervention during wartime."
-The Washington Post Book World.

"For Bush, choosing to think big pays off: This is an engrossing, tightly knit novel of emotional depth and moral weight."
-The Toronto Star.

"In its meticulous, often beautiful prose, it conjures lives whose near-realism - whose very literariness - is the source of their power."
-Claire Messud, The Globe and Mail.

"... a novel of intense psychological and philosophical depth; the kind of book one meditates on weeks later."
-The National Post.

"This novel firmly plants Bush among the company of first-rank Canadian writers ... brings to mind early Margaret Atwood ..."
-Winnipeg Free Press.

In Brief

Arcadia Hearne is a war researcher, specializing in issues of military intervention. Raised in Toronto, she lives in London, England, where she works for a private organization called the Centre for Contemporary War Studies. But Arcadia’s immersion in theories of war is matched by her refusal to put herself at risk and her insistence on keeping her past at bay.
Ten years earlier, in the mid-1980s, Arcadia fled Toronto after two university students, rivals for her love, fought a pistol duel over her in a Toronto ravine. Now, through the interventions of her sister, Lux, and her increasingly complicated relationship with a new lover, Amir, who has secrets of his own, Arcadia is forced to confront her past and what really happened on the day of the duel. Set in the mid-1990s, The Rules of Engagement thoughtfully and provocatively explores contemporary issues of love, responsibility and risk, and the crossing of emotional, ethical and literal borders.

About the Author

Catherine Bush is the author of two novels, the recently released The Rules of Engagement, and Minus Time, short-listed for the City of Toronto Book Award and the Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award and published internationally. It is currently being adapted for film. Born in Toronto, she has also lived in Montreal, New York, and Provincetown, MA, and has a degree in Comparative Literature from Yale University. Her fiction, nonfiction and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including The Globe & Mail, The New York Times Book Review and the VLS.

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Testimonials for The Rules of Engagement
"Catherine Bush ... is ... a high-risk author, intellectually unafraid.... She traverses war zones - psychological, sexual, real - with a clear-eyed, cerebral sophistication ... exhilarating ..." -Catherine Lockerbie, The New York Times Book Review
"Lucidly written ... and exquisitely plotted." -Entertainment Weekly
"Catherine Bush has written that rare book, an intriguing novel of ideas peopled with characters who live on in memory long after their issues have been resolved ... fiercely intelligent and ultimately romantic ..." -The San Francisco Chronicle
"Bush’s terse, elegant, often sensuous prose draws us swiftly into her protagonist’s intelligent yet troubled mind. Her fusion ... of the political and the personal is not only ambitious, but compelling and provocative: a thoughtful attempt to examine the nature of love and risk." -The Los Angeles Times
" ‘The Rules of Engagement’ is tautly constructed, with a thriller’s pace and tension ... Bush writes novels as brainy as they are poignant. For my money, there is no higher recommendation." -Dan Cryer, Newsday.
"Suspenseful, minutely observed ... a sort of secular humanist manifesto ..." -The Village Voice.
"Bush skillfully sets up a continuing parallel between questions of personal responsibility in love, and larger questions of risk and intervention during wartime." -The Washington Post Book World.
"For Bush, choosing to think big pays off: This is an engrossing, tightly knit novel of emotional depth and moral weight." -The Toronto Star.
"In its meticulous, often beautiful prose, it conjures lives whose near-realism - whose very literariness - is the source of their power." -Claire Messud, The Globe and Mail.
"... a novel of intense psychological and philosophical depth; the kind of book one meditates on weeks later." -The National Post.
"This novel firmly plants Bush among the company of first-rank Canadian writers ... brings to mind early Margaret Atwood ..." -Winnipeg Free Press.
In Brief Arcadia Hearne is a war researcher, specializing in issues of military intervention. Raised in Toronto, she lives in London, England, where she works for a private organization called the Centre for Contemporary War Studies. But Arcadia’s immersion in theories of war is matched by her refusal to put herself at risk and her insistence on keeping her past at bay. Ten years earlier, in the mid-1980s, Arcadia fled Toronto after two university students, rivals for her love, fought a pistol duel over her in a Toronto ravine. Now, through the interventions of her sister, Lux, and her increasingly complicated relationship with a new lover, Amir, who has secrets of his own, Arcadia is forced to confront her past and what really happened on the day of the duel. Set in the mid-1990s, The Rules of Engagement thoughtfully and provocatively explores contemporary issues of love, responsibility and risk, and the crossing of emotional, ethical and literal borders.
About the Author Catherine Bush is the author of two novels, the recently released The Rules of Engagement, and Minus Time, short-listed for the City of Toronto Book Award and the Smithbooks/Books in Canada First Novel Award and published internationally. It is currently being adapted for film. Born in Toronto, she has also lived in Montreal, New York, and Provincetown, MA, and has a degree in Comparative Literature from Yale University. Her fiction, nonfiction and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including The Globe & Mail, The New York Times Book Review and the VLS.