''Lost in September'' is the second novel by

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

writer

Kathleen Winter Kathleen Winter (born 1960) is an English Canadian short story writer and novelist.Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, the novel centres on Jimmy Blanchard, a mysterious homeless man who believes himself to be the reincarnation of 18th-century British general

James Wolfe Major-general James Wolfe (2 January 1727 – 13 September 1759) was a British Army officer known for his training reforms and, as a major general, remembered chiefly for his victory in 1759 over the French at the Battle of the Plains of ...

."Review: Kathleen Winter's Lost in September is evocative, humane and totally original"
''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', September 22, 2017. Possessed of an encyclopedic knowledge of Wolfe's life, he is particularly obsessed with an 11-day

furlough A furlough (; from , "leave of absence") is a temporary cessation of paid employment that is intended to address the special needs of a company or employer; these needs may be due to economic conditions that affect a specific employer, or to thos ...

that Wolfe lost in 1752 when the British adoption of the

Gregorian calendar The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian cale ...

resulted in his being summoned back to war earlier than planned, and believes his presence in contemporary Montreal to be a belated restoration of the furlough. The novel was shortlisted for the

Governor General's Award for English-language fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in English.2017 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2017 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on October 4, 2017,

. ''Onze jours en septembre'', a French translation of the novel by

Sophie Voillot Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

, was shortlisted for the

Governor General's Award for English to French translation This is a list of recipients of the Governor General's Award for English-to-French translation awarded by the Governor-General of Canada. Winners and nominees 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s References {{Governor General's Literar ...

at the 2019 Governor General's Awards."Three Nova Scotians among 2019 Governor General's Literary Awards finalists"
''Truro News'', October 2, 2019.

References

2017 Canadian novels Novels set in Montreal Novels by Kathleen Winter Novels with unreliable narrators Knopf Canada books {{Canada-novel-stub