Hair for Men

The second novel by Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Michelle Winters teems with hot towel shaves and the steady thrum of female rage.

Spurred by adolescent trauma, Louise adopts a life of hardcore punk violence until she stumbles into a job at a mysterious men’s hair salon, where her unique relationship with her clientele shows her a more perfect world—or so it seems. When that world is overturned, she flees to a marina on the East Coast, where she lives free from reminders of her past—except the duffle-bagged ones she jettisons nightly in a forsaken cove. But on the day of the Tragically Hip’s 2016 farewell performance in Kingston, a man surfaces from the Bay of Fundy, rousing long-dormant urges and giving Louise an unexpected gift: the chance to make things right.

Funny, warm, and furious, Hair for Men is a subversive exploration of gender, forgiveness, and chucking convention.