All the Colour in the World

SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2023 GILLER PRIZE • The story of the restorative power of art in one man&s life, set against the sweep of the twentieth century-from Toronto in the &20s and &30s, through the killing fields of World War II, to 1960s Sicily.

"Bold and resplendent." -Nita Prose, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Maid

"Supremely artful." -Toronto Star

Henry, born 1916, thin-as-sticks, nearsighted, is an obsessive doodler-copying illustrations from his Boy&s Own magazines. Left in the care of a nurturing, Shakespeare-quoting grandmother, eight-year-old Henry receives as a gift his first set of colouring pencils (and a pocket knife for the sharpening). As he commits these colours to memory-cadmium yellow; burnt ochre; deep scarlet red-a passion for art, colour, and the stories of the great artists takes hold, and becomes Henry&s unique way of seeing the world. It is a passion that will both haunt and sustain him on his journey through the century: from boyhood dreams on a summer beach to the hothouse of art academia and a love cut short by tragedy; from the psychological wounds of war to the redemption of unexpected love.

Projected against a backdrop of iconic masterpieces-from the rich hues of the European masters to the technicolour magic of Hollywood-All the Colour in the World is Henry&s story: part miscellany, part memory palace, exquisitely precise with the emotional sweep of a great modern romance.