Until I find you : a novel /

I: The North Sea -- In the care of churchgoers and old girls -- Saved by the littlest soldier -- Rescued by a Swedish accountant -- No luck in Norway -- Failure in Finland -- God's holy noise -- Also not on their itinerary -- II: The sea of girls -- Safe among the girls -- Not old enough -- His audience of one -- His father inside him -- Not just another rose of Jericho -- Not your usual mail-order bride -- Mrs. Machado -- Friends for life -- III: Lucky -- Frost heaves -- Michele Maher, and others -- Enter Claudia: exit Mrs. McQuat -- Claudia, who would haunt him -- Two Canadians in the city of angels -- Two candles, burning -- Money shots -- IV: Sleeping in the needles -- Billy Rainbow -- The button trick -- Daughter Alice goes home -- A faithless boy -- The commandant's daughter; her little brother -- The wrong tattoo -- The truth -- The deal -- V: Dr. Garc�ia -- Therapy -- Straining to see -- Signs of trouble -- Halifax -- Forgettable -- Claudia's ghost -- Edinburgh -- Zurich -- The musician.

The story of the actor Jack Burns. His mother, Alice, is a Toronto tattoo artist. When Jack is four, he travels with Alice to several North Sea ports; they are trying to find Jack's missing father, William, a church organist who is addicted to being tattooed. But Alice is a mystery, and William can't be found. Even Jack's memories are subject to doubt. Jack Burns goes to schools in Canada and New England, but what shapes him are his relationships with older women. John Irving renders Jack's life as an actor in Hollywood with the same richness of detail and range of emotions he uses to describe the tattoo parlors in those North Sea ports and the reverberating music Jack heard as a child in European churches.