Last Seen, Matt Cohen’s penultimate novel, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award and the Trillium Book Award. Last Seen is a darkly comic story of two brothers and a woman who brings them both back to life. Harold, the older brother, is handsome and charming but dying of cancer. Alex is bookish and a scholar in Europe. With Francine, a nurse they both once loved, Alec cares for Harold until he dies. One day, Alec goes into a bar full of Elvis impersonators and there meets Francine—and Harold. Why has Harold come back from the dead? In this fragmentary tale of obsessive grieving, Cohen mixes moments of wry humour with touching pathos. Last Seen demonstrates that it takes more than death to untie the knot between two brothers.

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page

FINALIST 1997 - Governor General's Literary Awards - Fiction

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page

"Read it. Last Seen will burn a hole in your heart." -Monday Magazine


"His best novel to date.... Almost unbearably sad, it's also, at times, very funny ... and full of a quirky, left-handed wisdom [for which] we give thanks." -Margaret Atwood, The Globe and Mail

"Unforgettable ... will leave empathetic readers sweaty-palmed and gasping." -NOW

"Last Seen is glorious. Matt Cohen composes an eloquent anthem to brotherhood, to earthly and unearthly attachments, and not least, to death itself. That he accomplishes this with beauty, grace and also great humour is simply remarkable." -Joan Barfoot

"Rich and imaginative ... Last Seen is an exquisitely written and uplifting novel." -Calgary Herald

"Last Seen is a dark, mordantly funny novel [and] a story of tremendous emotional power."-The Ottawa Citizen




From the Trade Paperback edition.

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page

Shortly before his death in December 1999, Matt Cohen won the Governor General’s Award for his novel Elizabeth and After and the Harbourfront Festival Prize in honour of his life as a writer. In 1998 he received the Toronto Arts Award for writing. He is the author of thirteen novels as well as poetry, short stories, books for children and works of translation from French into English.


From the Hardcover edition.

 Back to top | e-mail or print this page