A Perfect Offering Personal Stories of Trauma and Transformation

A Perfect Offering illuminates the dark recesses of trauma—the sudden loss of a child, surviving sexual assault, the legacy of residential schools, enduring war and imprisonment, living with chronic illness—and shines with the imperfect grace and resilience of the human heart. Some of the 31 stories will shock and disorient. Others will inspire and comfort. All are illustrative and compelling. The contributors include Jennifer Finney Boylan, trans activist and a regular contributor to The New York Times; Captain Trevor Greene, who was attacked by an axe-wielding teenager near Kandahar; author of Prisoner of Tehran, Marina Nemat; Jules Arita Koostachin, band member of Attawapiskat First Nation; and Paul Watson, awarded Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography. For others, this will be their first publication.

"This emotionally honest book is simultaneously brutal, beautiful and deeply inspiring." —Jennifer Meeropol, granddaughter of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg 
"This book will break your heart right open." —Mike Downie, Co-Founder of The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund
"These shared stories resonate with deep feeling, wisdom and courage." —Award-wining novelist Camilla Gibb

Harold Heft was the author of The Shape of This Dying (Mosaic) and Build a Better Book Club (Macmillan Canada). At age 51, after a sudden diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumour, Harold died on 23 July 2015. Suzanne Heft grew up in the US, the Middle East, and Europe, riveted by stories of transformation. She is a non-profit fundraising executive, mother of two, and wife of Harold Heft. Peter O’Brien’s books include Introduction to Literature: British, American, Canadian (Harper & Row) and Cleopatra at the Breakfast Table (Quattro). He also publishes and exhibits artwork internationally.