In the words of the former Senior Editor of McClelland & Stewart, who has worked with Leonard Cohen, Farley Mowat, Michael Ondaajte, Mordecai Richler, Sylvia Fraser and Gabrielle Roy: “As an editor, a spark ignites when one encounters, in a heap of unsolicited manuscripts, a unique and distinctive lyrical voice. This was my experience with Chris Carlisle’s Pickett’s Dream. Here is a writer whose passion to reveal the human condition is as essential as breathing. And now decades later, the figures that live in his story remain vivid — the enigmatic priest, John Pickett, consumed by an indomitable love; the alluring Athena van Fleet, flirtatious and elusive, wed to the adulterous tycoon Ted Talbot; and the chronicler of this tale — the pensive, observant Brooke Adams — beset by passions of his own. Propelled by a lyrical style that flows like a river, it brings to mind the timeless quality inherent in works such as Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The rhythm and eloquence in the writing will invite the reader to retrace the story many times — to linger over the insights, the flashes of humor, and to savor the majestic beauty of the language. In our highly commercialized era, where expediency is a virtue, this creation of exquisite imagery and quiet reflection has had a lengthy journey to come into the light; yet it bears the stamp of infinity.”