Step Closer, Guyana-born, Toronto-bred Tessa McWatt’s fourth novel, is also her first to break ties entirely with her native country in its setting. Like McWatt’s first three books, including the Governor General’s Award-nominated Dragons Cry, it deals with peripatetic characters whose movements between countries—in this case Spain, England, and Canada—are tied to restless quests for self-fulfillment. In the previous novels, identity was at stake. Here, the goal is one of atonement for misdeeds and tragedies of the past. Read more…