Heaven Is Small - by Emily Schultz (Paperback)

About the Book

"Moments after his death, an event he had failed to notice, Gordon Small sought new employment." So begins "Heaven Is Small, " the funny, startling, and profound story of Gordon Small, a degree-clutching slacker and failed fiction writer who finds himself posthumously employed at the Heaven Book Company, the world's largest romance publisher. As it slowly dawns on Gordon that he may have missed his chance for greatness -- and perhaps worse, may be trapped in an airless limbo -- he embarks on a mission that will redeem him, revive his writing career, and bring the monotonous machinery of the afterlife to a screeching halt. With sly deadpan humor, brilliant insight into the human condition, and exceptionally beautiful writing, Emily Schultz explores what it means to be truly alive only after you're dead.

Book Synopsis

Award-winning author and poet Emily Schultz offers an immensely readable, funny, and sharp novel about a man who works for a Harlequin-like publisher, and gradually discovers that he has arrived in "heaven." Like Will Ferguson's international bestseller, Happiness, Heaven is Small is a smart, satirical novel from one of our best.

Heaven is Small is the funny, layered, startling, and profound story of Gordon Small, a degree-clutching slacker and failed fiction writer. Gordon is also, we discover in the first paragraph, recently deceased - although this is "an event he failed to notice." When Gordon finds himself suddenly employed at the Heaven Book Company, the world's largest romance publisher, he begins to notice that something is odd: his routines within the company's walls, though familiar in some respects, have taken on a strange cast - stranger than is usual in the average suburban office.

With sly deadpan humour, brilliant insight into the human condition, and exceptionally beautiful writing, Schultz explores what it means to be truly alive only after you're dead.

Review Quotes

". . . an enjoyable, fast-paced ride . . . nothing can beat Schultz's frenetic, surprising, and genuinely funny writing." -- Naomi K Lewis, Fiddlehead

"Schultz's latest is a satire of office life, romance novels, and afterlife narratives. She has accomplished something quite remarkable here, deftly juggling all this social commentary and a rather blandly sympathetic protagonist with a sharp command of language." -- Rosalie MacEachern, Publishers Weekly