A Toronto Story by Sharon Marcus

From the early sixties to the mid-eighties this highty reflective novel, set frequently in downtown Toronto, traces events in the lives of Jennie Weber and Bill Corelli, the protagonists whose story imprints itself against this unambiguous skyline. Jennie devotes herself to supporting Bill's career as a musician, a classical musician who is suddenly caught by the delirium of performance in a famous rock band with revolutionizing consequences for both of them. The narrator, occasionally belligerent, often filled with sorrow, who is this person who is this curious individual who sometimes observes offstage yet sometimes appears to be engaged in the story? Our ubiquitous commentator, busily projecting a forward and backward sweep in time, creates a meditative umbrella defending the actions and attitudes of the two principal characters. In this way the story becomes a contemplation of great issues, the mysteries embedded in those myths which affect our life and our loves. It is a look at the conjunction of comedy and tragedy, at truth and fiction, at the illusions built lockstep into what we take for reality.