To Soar, Like Icarus

About the Book

The hero of this book was working in a coal mine at age twelve. Despite his lack of education, he pulled himself up to become a highly successful businessman. There is something quintessentially heroic about defying the hopeless hand one was dealt . . . and turning it into straight aces. The fact that our hero John lost it all on another gamble just makes him more truly human and fragile. “From pride, from greed, he fell anew; by woman’s wiles was pierced through. Like Icarus, he flew too high and tried too hard to touch the sky.”

About the Author

Alan J. Yates was born and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, but moved to Canada in his late teens to pursue a career in journalism and broadcasting that would span more than three decades, most of it with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He pursued an academic career in parallel, earning an MA and a PhD from McGill University, and taught communications at the University of Ottawa. Now retired, Alan lives in Ottawa with his wife, Carla Curran, who is the Director of Book Publishing Policy and Programs at the Federal Department of Canadian Heritage. He has two children, Valerie and Neil, from his first marriage to the late Ida Panzini and two grandchildren, Ida and Findlay, from his daughter.