About this event:

Come one, come all! Award-winning author Richard Scarsbrook will be discussing his new novel, The Troupers, in conversation with author Terry Fallis on October 20th at 6pm ET.

Full of Golden Age entertainment and Richard’s trademark humour, The Troupers is a coming-of-age story about a family of quintuplets breaking free from their father’s expectations.

A recording of the event with closed captions will be made available 1-2 business days after the event on YouTube.

Purchase a copy of the book via Queen Books or by calling 416-778-5053. (You can request an autograph or inscription in the NOTES section of your order!)

About the book:

The Trouper-Royale Orpheum Galaxie Theatre is a jewel in the entertainment crown of Niagara Falls. At least, that’s what the marquee out front says. To the Fabulous Trouper Quintuplets their family’s old theatre is a thorn in the crown of their adolescent memories.

Under their famous-child-actor-turned-director father’s overbearing, and narcissistic eye, the quintuplets are raised on a strict diet of Golden Age entertainment and homeschooling to mold them into the best actors of their generation. But through a series of hilarious and tragic events, the siblings begin to develop their own personalities and ambitions, rebelling against their father’s aspirations for them. The tension rising from the quintuplets’ newfound individualism sparks an onstage brawl during a performance on their 18th birthday that changes the trajectory of all their lives.

Twenty years later, the quintuplets reunite for the reading of their father’s will and his demand for one last performance.

About the author:

Richard Scarsbrook is the author of ten books, including the novels The TroupersThe Indifference League, the National Post Bestseller Rockets Versus Gravity, and The Monkeyface Chronicles, which won the 2011 OLA White Pine Award. His short stories and poems have also appeared in The GuardianThe Los Angeles TimesDescantExisterePrairie Fire, and NeWest Review, amongst many others. His first produced screenplay, Royal Blood, was an official selection at many international film festivals, and won Best Short Film at the TIFF-associated Milton Film Festival. He has served as Writer in Residence for the Toronto District School Board, and the Orangeville, Richmond Hill, and the Toronto Public Libraries. He also teaches creative writing at George Brown College and The Humber School for Writers.

About the interviewer:

A two-time winner of the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, Terry Fallis is the author of eight national bestselling novels including his latest, Operation Angus, all published by McClelland & Stewart. The Best Laid Plans was the winner of the Leacock Medal for Humour in 2008, and CBC’s Canada Reads in 2011. It was adapted as a six-part CBC-Television miniseries, and a stage musical. The High Road was a Leacock Medal finalist in 2011. Up and Down was the winner of the 2013 Ontario Library Association Evergreen Award and was a finalist for the 2013 Leacock Medal. His fourth novel, No Relation (2014) won the 2015 Leacock Medal. His fifth, Poles Apart (2015) was a Globe and Mail bestseller and a finalist for the 2016 Leacock Medal. One Brother Shy (2017), Albatross (2019), and Operation Angus (2021), were all national bestsellers. In 2013, The Canadian Booksellers Association named Terry Fallis the winner of the Libris Award as Author of the Year.