Author Takes Affluenza Head-on with Satirical Stab at Canada's Elite

    TORONTO, ON, April 14, 2016 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Watchers of True Crime know that when it comes to describing neighbourhoods the use of the words "peaceful and idyllic" are usually code for a dark and mysterious underbelly about to be revealed. And the more affluent and exclusive the that neighbourhood, the more shocking the that story is likely to be. Author Arnold Logan is using his debut novel Springtime in Lawrence Park to test the waters of that theory.

Coming soon from cutting-edge publisher Fire and Ash, Springtime in Lawrence Park is set to take on the concept of "Affluenza" as the privileged catch-all to excuse shocking (and often criminal) behaviours. By focussing on Toronto's Lawrence Park, Arnold reminds Canadians that in our so-called "equal" society, some are more equal than others.

"We tend to think of social elitism as being more typical of American society--where we conjure up imagery of wealthy former plantation owners attending regattas or gala-going Manhattanites," says Logan. "But there is a Canadian elite, and if reports in the last few years are any indication, affluenza is rife within the ranks of its youth," says Logan.

Following the tradition of satirists like Daniel Defoe, Logan is pushing boundaries to reveal the hypocrisy underscoring the lives of Canada's privileged elite. Through a fictionalized account of life in Lawrence Park, one of Canada's most affluent neighbourhoods, he's poised to rankle a few feathers, but his publishers aren't worried about it.

"Between the sanitized media representations of Canadian privilege and the extreme visions satire allows you to present--is the actual truth of a world in which most Canadians will never set foot," says Dave Harrison, a member of the Fire and Ash Publishers, "Arnold's work is exactly the kind of provocative and exciting work we want to be publishing."

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