Winner of the 2009 ReLit Award He saw it Like one dead eye filmed over Like a tunnel that would kill you Like a star coming to explode you He saw it Closer and closer It was morning It was daylight He shouldnt be thinking this This was a nighttime thing Stop Stop Stop thinking He felt it Like black oil on his spine Like night inside of him Chase and Haven only have each other Their mother is mostly absent shes tired from working too hard at her motel cleaning job and avoiding their fathers fists Hes mostly absent too usually drunk and often violent So its up to Haven to look after her little brother Chase and shes fiercely protective of him She hides the bread away so hell have something to eat for lunch and hides him away when their dads temper flares And she teaches him how to make himself invisible howto read the signs One day though hiding just isnt enough to keep them safe So Haven steals the family car whose dashboard she can barely see over and she pilots them away to safety Their aunt Mary takes them in and tries her best to love and nurture them to try and make up for everything theyve endured But a childhood so harrowing is impossible to forget Haven goes to medical school hoping to heal herself by healing others She marries young and has a daughter April whom Haven hopes will serve as some kind of redemption Chase more damaged even than Haven battles his demons through cathartic but doomed performance art But his searching just takes him to darker and darker places And always they try to keep one another afloat Chase and Haven is a haunting story inventively told and deeply felt of suffering and love made of thousands of small impressionist facets that refract thequiet spectrum of the beauty and the detritus of two entwined lives Praise for Chase and Haven Blouin creates vivid images using a storytelling format that bounces readers from one seemingly random memory to another each recollection revealed in the authors beautifully lean and powerful voice Ottawa Citizen With deftness and selfassurance Michael Blouin has built an undeniable world in Chase and Haven His crisp Gowdylike prose and cutting observations compel Blouin knows what goes on inside of people and between them what is said and what is unsaid He is a storyteller to watch Emily Schultz author of Joyland Heaven Is Small