Interference Read online

The myths about breast cancer come from the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation website (http://www.cbcf.org/central/AboutBreastCancerMain/AboutBreastCancer/Pages/Facts-and-Myths.aspx).

  Acknowledgements

  This book would not have happened without a large group of incredibly supportive people. First and foremost, my husband, Stuart Baird, and my children, Abby and Zoe, for inspiring me (and putting up with me) every minute of every day. My friend Heidi den Hartog, who, along with Stuart Baird, taught me more about courage than anyone could imagine. Margaret and Edward Berry, David and Nicola Berry and Alec and Joshua, Beverly and David Baird — family. My friends — Jennifer Wales, for titling this book (I still owe you that bottle of wine) and for forcing me to sign up for hockey, and Karen Kretchman, who still keeps me in shape (all these years).

  From the bottom of my heart, my team of readers, thank you: Jonathan Bennett, Susie Maguire, Charles Foran, Hilary McMahon, Heidi den Hartog, Chris Bucci, Stuart Baird, Edward and Margaret Berry, Chris Casuccio. Your input was invaluable.

  My agent, Chris Bucci. Hopefully this will be the first of many books we work on together.

  ECW: my brilliant editor, Michael Holmes (because he couldn’t resist a book that has hockey in it). It has been an honour to work with you. Thanks to Rachel Ironstone, cover designer extraordinaire, and Jennifer Knoch, my sharp-eyed copy editor. Thank you also to Crissy Calhoun, Erin Creasey and Sarah Dunn.

  Thank you to the Ontario Arts Council for a much needed Writers’ Reserve Grant.

  And finally, the Peterborough Ice Kats White Team, 2010–2014, past and present players. Senior Ladies Leisure League Hockey doesn’t feel as ridiculous as it sounds when we’re out on the ice together. Go, white team, go.

  Michelle Berry is widely published in Canadian literary magazines, national newspapers, and anthologies. She teaches creative writing at both the University of Toronto and Trent University, and she is a mentor at Humber College. Two of her previous four novels have appeared in the U.K. as well as Canada, and she has published three collections of short fiction. Born in California and raised in Victoria, BC, she lives in Peterborough, Ontario, with her family.

  Copyright © Michelle Berry, 2014

  Published by ECW Press

  2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2

  416-694-3348 / [email protected]

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

  Berry, Michelle, 1968–, author

  Interference: a novel / Michelle Berry.

  ISBN 978-1-77090-611-2 (ePUB)

  Also issued as: 978-1-77090-612-9 (PDF); 978-1-77041-198-2 (pbk.)

  i. Title.

  ps8553.e7723i58 2014 c813’.54 c2014-902587-4

  c2014-902588-2

  Editor for the press: Michael Holmes

  Design: Rachel Ironstone

  Cover photos: deserted playground by Benson Kua | www.flickr.com/photos/bensonkua/; slippers © zhekos/iStockphoto

  Author photo: Abby Berry

  The publication of Interference has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $157 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and by the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), an agency of the Government of Ontario, which last year funded 1,793 individual artists and 1,076 organizations in 232 communities across Ontario, for a total of $52.1 million. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.