Carnival of Desire a novel

           Carnival of Desire is set in 1977, the year a twelve-year-old shoeshine boy, Emanuel Jaques, was brutally raped and murdered in Toronto. The crime changed forever Toronto the Good and its Portuguese community, which was desperately searching for a clear sign from God during this trying time.

            On the day of the Shoeshine Boy’s funeral, Antonio Rebelo, the twelve-year-old narrator of this story, discovers the image of Jesus in a clam. The event takes a strange turn when a visitor claims he has been miraculously healed by Antonio’s touch. Antonio’s parents are torn between protecting their child from the circus that is unfolding, and opening their home to the wave of hope-filled dying and diseased. The unwitting Antonio is swept into a world of bizarre faith and religious zeal.

          In the neighborhood’s dark garages and intricate labyrinth of backyard alleys, Antonio and his friends meet and develop a curious relationship with James, a twenty-year-old modern-day Fagan. A bohemian living in a rented garage, James is a fledgling master over an amoral world of young hustlers where theft, drugs, and sex are seen as “just work, you know? It’s just about money.” James’ relationship with the world is defined exclusively by shameless exploitation. He is combative, scheming, and a liar, but Antonio feels as if he is “chosen” — guarded and protected from the secret desires within his own community’s dark underbelly.

        Over the course of a year, through the unraveling courtroom drama and media stories related to the Shoeshine Boy murder, as well as the unforgettable characters and events that affect Antonio, he becomes aware of all the dashed hopes of immigrants who came to Toronto seeking an affluent life, of the power of faith and the role of church, and of the terrifying confluence of power and desire that these elements fostered in his community.

       Carnival of Desire is a novel of revelation and discovery, of a young man's glimpse into a dark and cruel world. He sees his community find its political voice through an unforgettable murder, as well as strength and power through their faith. Antonio learns about bravery and cowardice, life and death, and the heart's capacity for love and for unremitting hatred. With the revelation of James’ secret connection to Antonio, the boy grasps the meaning of family and of the power to shape one’s destiny. By the novel’s end, he faces a world that offers endless possibilities that he must either refuse or embrace.

Doubleday - Canada

Algonquin Books - USA

Release 2012