a cure for the january blahs
“Becky Blake takes us on an extraordinary journey through Barcelona’s underbelly, exploring with empathy and insight the human need for belonging and security, and what it means to lose everything. Finely crafted and richly imagined, ‘proof i was here’ is an enthralling, intelligent and fast-paced novel you wont be able to put down”
the busiest month of the year is almost upon us but, after december whizs by, we will be in deepest darkest january. enter the next edition of appetite for reading: becky blake’s ‘proof i was here’ on monday january 20 at public kitchen.
Becky Blake has been a literary force for her short stories for several years (in 2013 and 2017 she was awarded the CBC Literary Prize for non-fiction (2017) and short fiction (2013). With ‘Proof I was Here’ Blake brings that literary power to her debut novel.
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“Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose in Proof I Was Here, the debut novel by Toronto writer Becky Blake. Expat Niki walks out of her Barcelona apartment, leaving her relationship – along with her keys and wallet so that she no longer needs to be wary of strangers and thieves – and suddenly the city opens up for her. When a thief on the subway steals the one thing left in her pocket – a paint chip – Niki falls into his orbit, finding community with the knock-off purse-sellers and street performers who are his friends. A shoplifter since childhood – and facing an assault charge in Toronto – Niki is at home among the misfits, sheltering with them at night in the skeleton of a half-built tower whose construction has been halted since the 2008 economic downturn.”
“‘Proof i was Here’ is laced with grit, art and angst. This evocative novel explores the intersection of privilege and survival, ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behaviour, permanence and the ephemeral... it reminds us of the power of our choices, but also show how serendipity can, in a moment, change what we think about ourselves and the world”