Vintage, Toronto, 2002, 1^st pr.  ISBN 0-679-31128-9.  Trade soft cover, 239 pages.  Unread remaindered copy; light impressions from sticker removal on front wrap.  Author’s first novel.  ‘Three siblings gather together to bury their mother, Becka Mount, a bedridden agoraphobic.  Billy and Thomas fled their mother’s fearfulness long ago, but Hilary remained at home to care for her.  All three have secrets to keep.  Drunk and disenchanted, Billy is hiding his recent unemployment from his family.  Thomas has been hiding his partner of fifteen years.  And now Hilary has a dark, pressing secret – one that is fueling her desire to bury her mother in the backyard where she can keep an eye on her.  Fumbling his way through the chaos of the Mount family is Dick Mortimer, the bizarrely sympathetic funeral director and Hilary’s former childhood sweetheart.  It is Dick who begins to make real Hilary’s feverish plans.  Together they convince Thomas and Billy to give Becka a curious funeral, culminating in an unusual backyard barbecue.’ (from rear wrap)