Novel told in parallel stories of a father and son. An American artist's eventual return to Canada in search of an identity in the place of his father's birth and death; the father's youthful departure from Quebec to New England many years before. Each man's personal "quest" forward and backward, and the pressures he endures.
From McClelland and Stewart: "'The Questing Beast' traces the lives of a father and son - heirs to a mysterious family disgrace - and their obsessive attempts to appease the specter of their past. Each of them is guided by enigmatic, even mystical, women as their separate journeys take them from the asbestos pits of Thetford Mines, Quebec, to the lush gardens of Miami Beach and, ultimately, back to the same destination."