Where to Start with André Alexis
If you're new to the philosophical, funny, and deeply imaginative world of André Alexis, the absolute best place to start is with his masterpiece, Fifteen Dogs (2015). It is the second book in his acclaimed Quincunx Cycle, but because the series is modular rather than chronological, you don't need to read the first book to understand it. Fifteen Dogs—which won both the Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize—serves as the perfect introduction to the author's ability to blend high-concept ideas (dogs given human intelligence by gods) with moving, accessible prose.
If you prefer a more realistic starting point, his debut novel, Childhood (1998), is a brilliant choice. It won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Trillium Book Award, offering a lyrical and nostalgic exploration of memory, love, and growing up in Southern Ontario.
The Quincunx Cycle: Themes & Publication Order
The Quincunx Cycle is a collection of five interconnected novels published by Coach House Books. While characters, locations, and thematic threads overlap, each novel stands completely on its own as a self-contained story. You can read them in any order, but the recommended path is the publication order. This allows you to experience the evolution of the overall project, which Alexis structured after the 17th-century polymath Thomas Browne's concept of the "quincunx"—an arrangement of five points where each book addresses a distinct human concern through a unique literary genre.
The Quincunx Cycle in Publication Order
- Pastoral (2014) – Theme: Faith. This novel follows a young pastor who moves to the rural town of Barrow, Ontario, where he finds his faith tested by the strange, mundane, and magical quirks of the locals. It is a modern pastoral comedy that sets the tone for the cycle.
- Fifteen Dogs (2015) – Theme: Place (or consciousness/humanity). Alexis's breakout hit depicts a bet between Hermes and Apollo that results in fifteen dogs at a Toronto veterinary clinic suddenly receiving human consciousness and language. It is a beautiful, sometimes heartbreaking fable.
- The Hidden Keys (2016) – Theme: Power. Inspired by Robert Treasure Island, this quest novel takes place in Toronto, following a thief named Tancred Palmieri who is tasked by a dying wealthy woman with finding five mysterious clues to unlock her hidden estate.
- Days by Moonlight (2019) – Theme: Hatred (specifically cultural trauma and displacement). This magical realist road trip follows a botanist named Alfred Homer and a professor traveling through eccentric Southern Ontario towns, uncovering bizarre local customs, racism, and historical ghosts. It won the Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.
- Ring (2021) – Theme: Love. The final installment in the cycle is a romantic comedy set in Toronto, featuring a magical ring that allows a woman to feel exactly what her partner is thinking, exploring the boundaries of empathy and connection.
Standalone Novels & Children's Fiction
Outside of the Quincunx Cycle, André Alexis has written several standalone works that share his signature interest in memory, identity, and the surreal.
- Childhood (1998) – A deeply reflective debut novel focusing on the subjectivity of memory, childhood, and growing up, split between Petrolia and Ottawa.
- Ingrid and the Wolf (2005) – A delightful children's novel—his first work for young readers—about an eleven-year-old girl who discovers a mysterious, magical inheritance involving a wolf after being sent to Hungary.
- Asylum (2008) – His second novel, set in 1980s Ottawa during the Mulroney administration. It is a satirical and serious exploration of political ambition, human fallibility, and the project of building an "ideal" prison.
Plays, Novellas, and Short Stories
Alexis is a versatile writer whose literary roots extend to playwriting and short fiction. These shorter works offer a window into his darker, more surreal, and folklore-inspired early storytelling styles.
- Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa (1994) – Alexis's debut collection of short fiction. These stories are known for their dark, surreal, and philosophical tone, using Ottawa as a backdrop for eerie, folklore-inspired narratives.
- The Night Piece (1999) – A collection of short stories that explore themes of displacement, alienation, and the uncanny, drawing on the author's Trinidadian and Canadian backgrounds. (Note: A expanded collection, The Night Piece: Collected Short Fiction, was released in 2020).
- Lambton Kent (1999) – Originally produced as a play in 1995, this work centers on a Nigerian anthropologist's observations of southern Ontario.
- A (2013) – A novella that follows a Canadian literary critic's obsessive journey regarding a poet named Avery Andrews.
What to Know Before You Start
André Alexis rejects strict realism, instead using the "real to show the imagination." He sets his stories in Southern Ontario, transforming familiar landscapes into stages for universal, metaphysical questions. Although his characters and themes occasionally cross over between the books of the Quincunx Cycle, the connections are subtle Easter eggs rather than plot-critical links. You do not need to worry about losing the plot thread if you pick up the books out of order.