Article by Bronwyn Boyer  Photography by Josianne Masseau

Bracebridge author Simon Hally’s debut novel, Losing It, had been brewing in his mind for several years. After escaping Toronto a decade ago, the slower pace of semi-retirement gave him the freedom to finally give his characters a voice.

As a veteran journalist with a 40-year career under his belt, fiction was a whole new adventure. “After all those years of journalism, I had plenty of practice writing,” Hally explains. “But I hadn’t really appreciated how different the craft of fiction writing was from journalism. I thought I could just tell the story the way I was used to but it’s not the same. Journalism is all about sharing facts, while writing fiction is about letting the reader fill in the gaps with their own impressions. You show, rather than tell.”

Hally was born in London, England. When he was eight years old, his family moved to Canada. He grew up in Aurora, Ontario, then moved to Toronto to attend University of Toronto to study physics. Torn between his love of writing and his love of science, he eventually chose writing. He started working for Maclean-Hunter, the largest magazine publisher in Canada at the time. The company produced titles such as McLean’s and Chatelaine, as well as various trade and business publications. Hally was also the founding editor for Stitches: The Journal of Medical Humour, which was read by thousands of doctors across Canada, many of whom put it in their waiting rooms, giving it high readership among the public as well.

A decade ago, Hally and his wife settled in Bracebridge, which they discovered after spending time at his son-in-law’s family cottage in Muskoka.

Set in Toronto, Losing It is a comedic critique of the world of business. Full of intrigue, romance, violence and humour, it explores the corruption of the rat race and its various entanglements. These themes were inspired by Hally’s own impressions navigating the corporate world, which his main character, a photographer named Peter, is both disgusted and amused by.

“I wanted to write a story that would make people laugh and keep them engaged,” Hally says. “But also, to show the damage large companies do when they lay someone off at a moment’s notice. Like Peter, I was disillusioned by the hierarchies, the politics and the brutal way they deal with people. I think anyone who has worked in the business world will relate, although there’s something in the book for everyone.”

Losing It refers to “losing” the game, thanks to how brutally competitive the corporate world is. It also refers to losing morals, status, relationships, mental health, integrity, innocence, and even free will.

“I think corporations generally are quite immoral the way they behave,” Hally explains. “And they can force people to become immoral when they otherwise wouldn’t be. We’re all kind of complicit in it, because anyone who has invested in stocks wants returns, so these companies are under a lot of pressure to be profitable. It’s the evil face of capitalism and we all feed into it. No one is truly immune.”

Losing It presents serious situations and messy entanglements with a funny tone and a brisk, exciting plot. Though the characters are intelligent and ambitious, they’re also misguided and naïve. One of the main characters, Lee, always dreamed he’d one day become CEO of his family firm. This ambition proves dangerous when he loses his temper in a road rage incident and goes to great lengths to avoid accountability, all for the sake of his career.

The story is told in the first person by Peter, who also happens to be Lee’s brother-in-law. Through family obligation, Peter reluctantly helps cover up the crime for the sake of his sister, Catherine, who’s convinced that Lee will lose his sanity if he loses the promotion. Meanwhile, he finds himself falling in love with the victim’s sister, Jessica. The plot thickens as Peter is pulled deeper into a tangled web he never wanted to weave.

“I wanted to have someone who was an outsider to the business world but also connected to it,” says Hally. “As a commercial freelance photographer, Peter sees the way they operate. Photographers are observers; they have a strong visual sense. I wanted him to be funny and sardonic. Getting his voice right took a while, because I wanted him to be intelligent and articulate but also innocent and shockable.”

Losing It is available at book stores and online across Canada as well as the US, UK, and Australia. Hally is currently working on a highly-anticipated sequel.