Accusation

An accusation, regardless of truth, has its own life when let loose in the world. The words, released, went on uncoiling themselves.

While in Copenhagen, Sara Wheeler happens upon a touring Ethiopian circus called Cirkus Mirak. Later, she drives its founder, Raymond Renaud, through the night from Toronto to Montreal. Such chance beginnings lead to later fateful encounters, as renowned novelist Catherine Bush artfully confronts the destructive power of allegations.

With Accusation, Bush again proves herself to be one of Canada’s finest authors as she examines the impossibility inherent in attempting to uncover “the truth.” After a friend of Sara’s begins a documentary about the circus, unsettling charges begin to float to the surface — disturbing tales of sexual and physical abuse at the hands of Raymond. Accounts and anecdotes mount, denunciations fly, and while Sara strives to untangle the narrative knots and determine what to believe, the idea of a singular “truth” becomes slippery. Her present search is simultaneously haunted by her past.

Travelling from Canada to Ethiopia and Australia, Accusation follows a network of lives that intersect with life-altering consequence, painfully revealing that the best of intentions can lead to disaster.