Set during the dramatic Red River Resistance of 1869-1870 and the birth of Manitoba. The novel is told through the perspective of a young Irish-Canadian journalist, Conor O'Dea. Under mysterious circumstances, after working for the assassinated politician D'Arcy McGee, O?Dea is sent West, and to Sir John A. Macdonald?s horror befriends Louis Riel. Macdonald never understood Louis Riel and never really tried to. The story also includes the little known Fenian attack in Manitoba. If Louis Riel had supported his fellow Catholics, it could have been what the lieutenant governor called "A rough time of it?" But he didn't. He supported Canada. Equal parts spy thriller and love triangle and, in a time of reconciliation, this poignant novel contributes to the complicated story of Canada. Henderson and Bouchard have managed the magnificent feat of starting a very important conversation about this great land for all of those who call it home.

Man in the Shadows is the prequel to Gordon Henderson's acclaimed historical epic, Out of the Shadows. Gripping and rich, Man in the Shadows builds on the complicated Canadian historical record and illuminates one of the most dramatic events in our history-the assassination of Canada's most eloquent Father of Confederation, and former Irish nationalist, Thomas D'Arcy McGee. As the fledgling country was forming, its security was threatened by the Fenian Brotherhood, a group of Irish republicans advocating a forcible takeover of Canada by the United States. They targeted McGee and had plans to do away with his friend Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald. Man in the Shadows builds to a tipping point and captures the shocking reality of political and historical repetition that has become an immediate and integral topic of Canadian patriotism in the face of great threats.