We Are All of Us Left Behind

A queer coming-of-age story about a young man’s journey from Canada to Serbia in search of his roots, about the power of truth and lies, and about the persistence of hope when there’s nothing else left.

Orphaned and stuck in a one-traffic-light prairie oil town, a young man yearns for a family to belong to and sets out to find his last known living relative, his grandfather, the Serbian author Milos Milic. Armed with nothing but his wit and resourcefulness, he starts his trek, from his hometown on the Canadian plains, across continents and countries, in search of acceptance and family, which he finds, but in the most unexpected people.

We Are All of Us Left Behind is a queer coming-of-age story about the powers of truth and lies, of what a family really is, and the persistence of hope when there's nothing else left. Told in compelling, spare prose, We Are All of Us Left Behind is written in the spirit of The Beach meets The Goldfinch.

Bradley Somer’s novels have been published in over twenty countries, translated into several languages, and produced in many print, digital, and audio editions. A few are even in development for screen. His work was awarded the Georges Bugnet Award for Fiction and he was honoured to receive the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta’s Award for Emerging Artist. Bradley holds degrees in Archaeology and Anthropology, where his studies focused on paleoenvironments and human prehistory in North America. He has worked in cultural resource management, real estate, landscaping, and has also slung dough in late night pizza joints, all the while writing and editing and writing some more.

ISBN: 9781990601927
Format: Paperback
Pages: 320
Publisher: Freehand Books
Published: September 09, 2025

Praise for We Are All of Us Left Behind

“This captivating coming-of-age story offers a masterclass of rhythm and pacing. It took every ounce of my discipline to not glance ahead a few pages to see where this novel would take me next. Bradley Somer has a gift of making everything he writes about feel so palpable. His descriptions of the heat, the cold, the loneliness, the human connections, the yearning for connection, the awkwardness of things said and left unsaid make this book a wonderful read.” — Ali Hassan, actor, comedian, host of CBC’s Canada Reads “The adolescent narrator of Bradley Somer’s We Are All of Us Left Behind lives a desperate, hardscrabble life on society’s margins. Without family or friends, he embarks on a search for a grandfather he has never met, which takes him from a dusty prairie town to Belgrade via Amsterdam and Rome, a journey filled with curious encounters and interesting characters. In spare, lean, poetic prose, Bradley Somer relates a compelling, deeply thoughtful story about a young man’s urgent need to live E.M. Forster’s famous dictum, “Only connect!” It is a novel of the moment, a reminder that compassion is a necessity. It will stick in my mind for a long time.” — Guy Vanderhaeghe, three-time Governor General’s Award winning author “Somer’s latest novel is a frenzied and ravaging descent into the underworld, an autopsied travelogue of canyons and neon lights and lacerated bodies, the deep wounds and flayed silhouettes of wayward experience. It’s like being startled into some transgressive cathedral by Chuck Palahniuk, and, finding oneself staring at a ceiling fresco in the style of vagabonds and miscreants (think Jean Genet), of being overcome with the notion that one is falling upwards, toward revelation.” — Nicholas Herring, author of Some Hellish, winner of the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize “We Are All of Us Left Behind hooked me on its first line with its first lie. In sparse and propulsive prose, Bradley Somer perfectly captures the lonely desire for love and security in a mean, chaotic world made bearable through hard won moments of aching beauty and human connection. A survival story for our times.” – Angie Abdou, bestselling author of In Case I Go and The Bone Cage “The quiet beauty of Somer’s writing shifts a story of longing and despair into a vital meditation on hope and human connection. We Are All of Us Left Behind is a propulsive work of staggering ingenuity by an unsung hero of modern Canadian literature.” — Ali Bryan, author of The Crow Valley Karaoke Championships “We Are All of Us Left Behind is a gritty, intimate portrait of a young man’s hard life made softer by the kindness of strangers. I was deeply moved by the delicate intensity of Somer’s prose — and by the hope, ultimately, that he finds in humanity.” — Emily Saso, author of Nine Dash Line and The Weather Inside “We Are All of Us Left Behind is a keenly observed and deeply compassionate novel about resilience and the innate human desire for connection. Somer takes us on a raw, heartfelt, and epic trek, from the unforgiving Canadian prairies to the simmering streets of Rome to the idyllic Serbian countryside, as we follow a young man’s struggle to rise above his circumstances and find his place in the world. A brave, honest, and uncompromising book.” —Théodora Armstrong, author of Clear Skies, No Wind, 100% Visibility “Risky, rough and tender, this gripping novel bridges friends and lies, people and hope, the essential truth in leaving past lives behind.” — Lee Kvern, author of Catch You on the Flip Side

Praise for Bradley Somer “Somer tackles loneliness, life, love and death with wit and sensitivity …” — Globe and Mail “Enjoyable touches of farce and wry asides abound, underscoring moments of reckoning in eccentric, yet deeply human, dilemmas.” — Publishers Weekly “… a marvellous portrayal of the tentative — and often funny — ways human beings muddle about trying to connect with one another.” — Toronto Star