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Photo Credit: Alan Jones
Cigarette packet with Timothy Findley’s handwritten book proposal for Pilgrim
While at lunch with his editor, Iris Tupholme, Canadian author Timothy Findley reached into his pocket to read from a note that he had written on the inside flap of his cigarette package. The note describes the theme of the novel that would become Pilgrim, and reads: “He is trying to regain an energetic connection with the future.” Pilgrim, published in 1999, became a number one national bestseller and was a finalist for the Giller Prize. It was Findley’s last major literary novel. He passed away in June 2002.
