The Last Crossing Paperback - 2012

Media reviews

“Rarely are today’s hungry readers invited to such a feast of a book.…Here are brilliant writing, picaresque adventure, plot twists, history and studies of human nature. . . . There are few writers who can encapsulate a character in a single sentence, turn a phrase or manipulate a metaphor as brilliantly as Vanderhaeghe.…The Last Crossing deserves honours and the widest readership. Guy Vanderhaeghe, one of North America’s best writers, is at the top of his form.”
–Annie Proulx, Globe and Mail

“The Last Crossing is both a Canadian classic and a rousing adventure.…A tremendous achievement of imagination, capturing the West in all its grandeur. With its intricate layering of stories, constant surprises, unforgettable scenes and characters and dramatic landscape, Vanderhaeghe’s saga is certain to resonate with readers long after they’ve finished the book.”
–Calgary Herald

“A tour de force. Wonderfully written, suspenseful and totally absorbing, this novel must be [Vanderhaeghe’s] most powerful to date. . . . Many voices take up Vanderhaeghe’s twisting tale and its criss-cross pattern is skillfully woven into a chronicle of singular style and impressive power. This book is a remarkable achievement, a page-turner not only of epic proportions but of exceptional literary merit.…A book impossible to set aside.”
–London Free Press

“The Last Crossing is truly Vanderhaeghe’s masterpiece.…The variety of voices, settings and action evokes an almost inebriated response from the reader whose imagination is sparked to overflowing by such abundance.…Vanderhaeghe’s ability to hold in his imagination all of these characters and all of this vast narrative with its complexity of tensions and intensity of meaning, is testament to the creative genius of this writer and his passionate commitment to his craft.”
–Books in Canada

“The Last Crossing is an enormously rich and complex work, spanning time and place. It is an amazingly good story, and it both creates and satisfies a profound emotional need in readers. Thank you, Guy Vanderhaeghe.”
–Edmonton Journal

“The Last Crossing is Vanderhaeghe’s masterpiece.…The novel is so consistently vivid, the storytelling so magnificent.…What Vanderhaeghe is responding to, what he is writing about – albeit in a story that takes place more than a hundred years ago – is very much our present.…The Last Crossing is also a terrific entertainment. . . . In Vanderhaeghe’s book something approaching perfection is achieved. Scene follows scene described with such dexterity and skill that I was left, time and again, astonished.…Here is a story that you can hear, see, smell, as you read it. The Last Crossing is a novel with a broad canvas, but of intimately handled physical detail. The suspense is unflagging, its several voices distinct. Not once does Vanderhaeghe put a foot wrong.”
–Noah Richer, National Post

“[A] brilliant new novel.…The Last Crossing is one of those rarities: a page-turner that also bears the graceful prose and layered meanings of great literature.”
–Maclean’s

“The best Canadian book I’ve read this year is Guy Vanderhaeghe’s The Last Crossing.…Vanderhaeghe’s is an epic novel, but without the sometimes baggy sprawl the use of that word can connote; he maintains almost pitch-perfect control over five distinct narrative voices. If ‘excellence’ means anything, this novel is excellent.”
–Martin Levin, Globe and Mail

“The most astounding, unforgettable, literary journey ever penned in Canada about the 19th-century prairie.…The Last Crossing is a tale of lust, murder, revenge, shock and survival. But this is no pulp fiction. It is an arresting work of art more in the vein of Leo Tolstoy or Charles Dickens.…Each character is crafted with the care and precision of a Michelangelo sculpture. The plot grabs you in such a fierce, determined way that it is impossible, once started, to set the book aside.…In the end, The Last Crossing is nothing less than the first great novel about Canada’s Old West.”
–Ottawa Citizen

“The Last Crossing is an absolutely wonderful book, the kind of literature that reminds other writers of why they want to create, and convinces readers the world is a vast and mythic enterprise, larger than our individual crises or triumphs.…[Vanderhaeghe crosses] histories, borders and story lines with remarkable virtuosity.…It is a joy to read, to go through this wild world with a writer who has fully stretched out over a landscape big enough to accommodate his stride.”
–National Post

“When he arms his characters with speech – internal or external, uttered or unuttered – the reader feels the pulse of life.…The strongest and strangest and most compelling of Vanderhaeghe’s novels.”
–Toronto Star

“There’s no putting the book down.…Masterful.”
–Montreal Gazette

“The Last Crosssing’s epic sweep, historical scope, unforgettable characters, thematic complexity, compelling narrative and mythic underpinnings make it a hugely satisfying read. It is a novel of staggering literary achievement and immense emotional power that brings Canadian history to life.”
–Kitchener-Waterloo Record

“With a sharp eye, Vanderhaeghe creates scenes that are unforgettable.…The Last Crossing is his masterpiece.”
–Halifax Daily News

“Brilliant and engaging.…”
–Calgary Herald



From the Hardcover edition.