Maurice Yacowar challenges genre and form in Roy & Me, a cross between memoir and fiction, truth and distortion. It is the exploration of Yacowar’s relationship with Roy Farran—soldier, politician, author, mentor—and his conflict with Farran’s anti-Semitic past. Best known for his service with the British Special Air Service during World War II, Roy Farran served as a politician in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Premier Peter Lougheed. During his time in Israel as a soldier, Farran allegedly kidnapped and murdered a sixteen-year-old member of the Lehi group, also known as the Stern Gang.

Roy & Me is a memoir that edges toward fiction by venturing into Roy Farran’s thoughts, drawing simultaneously on his writings and Yacowar’s own imagination.

Maurice Yacowar is professor emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Calgary. He has taught at Brock University, where he helped establish Canada’s first film studies program. He was also the founding editor of The Gauntlet, the University of Calgary’s student newspaper, and the author of Sopranos on the Couch: Analyzing Television’s Greatest Series, released in 2003.

Maurice Yacowar's profile page

"Yacowar achieves a tribute to a complicated war hero as he explores the complex nature of memory and mentorship. It's a small gem of a book that deserves to be read, and then reread."

Bev Foy