Cover of Trader

Trader

expanded novel 1997 Newford

Record

First published1997
Original language EN
Work typenovel
Canon statusexpanded
First-edition ISBN9780312858476

Synopsis

Max Trader is a quiet, contented luthier in the city of Newford, a craftsman who has built a stable, comfortable life around his work and his few close friendships. One morning he wakes to find he is no longer in his own body but inhabiting that of Johnny Devlin, a charming, small-time con artist and drifter -- while Johnny has taken over Max's life entirely. Suddenly penniless, homeless, and unrecognized by everyone he knows, Max is forced out into Newford's stranger fringes, an underworld touched by dream and spirit, to find a way to reclaim his identity and confront Johnny. The novel is the fourth book set in the Newford sequence and uses this body-swap premise to examine how much of a person's sense of self depends on their body, their possessions, and how others perceive them.

Where it sits

  • Universe: Newford
  • Series: Newford, further novels expanded; position 1 of 4 in the series' recorded order
  • Author: Charles de Lint

Notes

  • From the series record (Newford, further novels): Further Newford novels; de Lint also wrote many Newford short-story collections not catalogued individually here.

Neighbouring works

Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.

  • Publication order, within the series Newford, further novels: position 1 of 4: next Someplace to Be Flying (1998)

Sources

← Newford dossier · All universes

Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.