Reeds

A single summer changes the trajectory of each member of this close-knit family, changing their lives — and the family — forever.

“Sharp, wildly hilarious, touching, and profound … Maybe art can’t be perfect, but Arjun Basu comes as close as it gets.” — Chris Harding, author of Pickard County Atlas

The Reeds are a very loving, slightly dysfunctional family — but a summer of individual changes is about to shake their tight family unit. Bobby, the father, loses his job while his wife Mimi’s lucrative business leaps ahead. Their adopted son, Abbie, leverages his internet stardom into the makings of a career, while their adopted daughter, Dee, discovers who she really is. They’ll have to navigate the shifting landscapes of money and fame in the age of the internet, office politics, gender dynamics, and sexuality in a world that has just seen political upheaval.

Set in Montreal’s west end, The Reeds is an ultimately optimistic story about the middle class, hope and love, and nostalgia, while exploring the dehumanization of work and the power of art against a backdrop of shag carpeting, the relentlessness of change, gentrification, and Japanese fried chicken.

Arjun Basu is the author of the Giller-longlisted Waiting for the Man (ECW Press). He loves bourbon and plays beer league hockey very poorly. A former magazine editor, he owns his own brand and content consultancy and is the host of The Full-Bleed, a podcast about the future of magazines. He lives with his wife in Montreal. Learn more about the author at arjunbasu.com.