num_pages: 448
description: Here comes Percy Joyce. From one of Canadas most acclaimed beloved storytellers: The Son of a Certain Woman is Wayne Johnstons funniest sexiest novel yet controversial in its issues wise generous and then some in its depiction of humanity. Percy Joyce born in St. Johns Newfoundland in the fifties is an outsider from childhood set apart by a congenital disfigurement. Taunted and bullied he is also isolated by his intelligence and wit and his unique circumstances: an unbaptized boy raised by a single mother in a fiercely Catholic society. Soon on the cusp of teenagehood Percy is filled with yearning wild with hormones and longing for what he cant havewanting to be let in...and let out. At the top of his wish list is his disturbingly alluring mother Penelope whose sex appeal fairly leaps off the page. Everyone in St. Johns lusts after herincluding her sister-in-law Medina; their paying boarder the local chemistry teacher Pops MacDougal; and...Percy. Percy Penelope and Pops live in the Mount home of the citys Catholic schools and most of its clerics none of whom are overly fond of the scandalous Joyces despite the seemingly benign protection of the Archbishop of Newfoundland himself whose chief goal is to bring little Percy Joyce into the bosom of the Church by whatever means necessary. In pursuit of that goal Brother McHugh head of Percys school sets out to uncover the truth behind what he senses to be the complicated relationships of the Joyce household. And indeed there are dark secrets to be kept hidden: Pops is in love with Penelope but Penelope and Medina are also in lovean illegal relationship: if caught they will be sent to the Mental and Percy already an outcast of society will be left without a family. The Son of a Certain Woman brilliantly mixes sorrow and laughter as it builds toward an unforgettable ending. Will Pops marry Penelope? Will Penelope and Medina be found out? Will Percy be lured into the Church? It is a reminder of the pain of being an outsider; of the sustaining power of love and the destructive power of hate; and of the human will to triumph.
language: English
title: The Son of a Certain Woman
publisher: Knopf Canada