Writings & Books
Writings & Books
David G. Hallman worked on international environmental ethics for most of his career and during that time authored five books. His writing has now branched out in new directions with the memoir August Farewell, the novel Searching for Gilead, and the short story collection Book Tales. He lives in Toronto.
August Farewell
It was August 7, 2009, when the doctor stood at the foot of the hospital bed and with a deliberation that was both efficient and compassionate, looked directly at David Hallman and his partner Bill Conklin and said, "Our diagnosis is pancreatic cancer, stage four." In his thoughtful and deeply personal memoir, David Hallman narrates the sixteen days after Bill was diagnosed with terminal cancer and intersperses vignettes drawn from their thirty-three years together as a gay couple.
With poignancy, humor, and affection, David describes the excruciating intensity of caring for Bill during those final two weeks while reminiscing about the joys and challenges of their life together. During their lengthy relationship, both were deeply committed to social and environmental justice, loved the arts and traveling, and embraced faith and spirituality—values that were never more important to them than during the final days of Bill's life. As David sat at Bill's bedside, he shares how the memories of their great love provided him strength and helped him prepare Bill for the end.
August Farewell offers an intimate portrait of a loving relationship brought to an abrupt end and affirms the power of love in the face of adversity.
Searching for Gilead
"Searching for Gilead" is a chronicle of love, laughter, and loss. The novel traces the connections between the Compton and Fischer families over three and a half decades. Linked initially by the love affair of two of the sons, Jonathan and Tom, the families' inter-relationships evolve into an intriguing web.
Below the story line runs a series of complex issues: the place of religion in our lives and in the world; injustice in global affairs; the joy and pain of love; threats to the environment; the role of the arts as we try and make sense of the world around us; dealing with the death of loved ones.
Written in an evocative and fast-paced style, the novel thrusts the reader from the first page into the dynamic lives of the characters and never lets up. At times witty and comic, and at times poignant and shocking, the story traverses the globe from Toronto to Venice, from New York to Nairobi, from Geneva to Marrakech.
"Searching for Gilead" is a thought-provoking and totally engaging read.
Book Tales
“I love to read books. I love to write books. So I decided to write a book about reading books,” says David G. Hallman about this collection of short stories each of which revolves around the characters’ interaction with a piece of literature.
Combining fiction, creative non-fiction, and semi-fictionalized autobiography, Hallman has crafted tales that draw readers into his characters’ complex lives using the lens of books such as Paul Bowles’s The Sheltering Sky, John Le Carré’s The Constant Gardener, E. M. Forster’s Maurice, Patricia Nell Warren’s The Front Runner, Robertson Davies’s Fifth Business, and Hallman’s own memoir August Farewell. Some of the stories focus specifically on the literary work. In others, the role of the book in the plot is quite subtle.
The stories are emotionally engaging and intellectually stimulating with some being sexually explicit. Each one is a dramatic exploration of the joys and heartaches, the thrills and conflicts inherent in personal and social relationships. The connecting theme of the role of books illuminates linkages between art and life.
The short stories of Book Tales with their gay plots and themes depict the characters finding insight, courage, and inspiration through a variety of literary works.
