FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Ballroom by Abraham Boyarsky — Available May 22
MONTREAL, QC — May 22, 2026 — 8th House Publishing proudly announces the release of The Ballroom, the new literary dystopian novel from award-winning Montreal author Abraham Boyarsky.
"We'll do our best today and every day until we win the jackpot."
In a near‑future Quebec, years after separation from Canada has plunged the province into economic collapse, Montreal is a city of shuttered storefronts, skeletal grocery shelves, and huddled figures warming themselves over barrel fires. The Imperial Meridian Hotel — once a jewel on Sherbrooke Street — stands as a monument to bygone grandeur, its grand ballroom reborn as a gambling hall where the desperate gather.
Here, Walter, a war veteran haunted by his tours in Afghanistan, and his sixteen‑year‑old daughter Bella spend their days in an arcane ritual of survival. For ten dollars a day, they enter the Ballroom with programmed tablets slung around their necks and join hundreds of others in a strange game of calculation and chance: counting one another, tracking movement, searching for patterns in chaos — all to guess the exact number of players when the whistle blows. The jackpot is almost never won. The game is a "ballet of reckoning and despair." But it is the only job Walter can find.
As father and daughter navigate this world of Brownian human motion, fleeting alliances, and the cold arithmetic of hope, the Ballroom becomes something more than a gambling den. It is a crucible where resilience is forged and where the bond between a father and his daughter is tested against the weight of a collapsing world.
The Ballroom is a work of quiet devastation and luminous humanity — a portrait of people who refuse to surrender even when every system around them has failed. With the precision of a mathematician and the soul of a poet, Boyarsky delivers a dystopian vision that is at once distinctly Montreal and urgently universal.
"It's about inference. About knowing how people move when they're hungry. About subtracting the ones who ghost out. It's as much about what you don't see."
About the Author
Abraham Boyarsky is a Canadian novelist and mathematician whose literary career spans more than four decades. His novel Schielber (1982) received the Canadian League of Poets' Gerald Lambert Memorial Award, and The Number Hall won the Toronto Jewish Literary Prize in 1992. His 2019 novel Through Shadows Slow was awarded the national CJLA 2020 Award for Best Work of Fiction. He is also the author of The Chassidic Trauma Unit (2016, 8th House Publishing), The Ratcatcher (2006), A Gift of Rags (2015), and the short‑story collection A Pyramid of Time.
A professor of mathematics at Concordia University until his retirement, Boyarsky has authored or co‑authored over 145 research papers and the graduate‑level text Laws of Chaos. He lives and works in Montreal, where he continues to bridge the worlds of science and literature.
Find more from Abraham Boyarsky at 8th House Publishing: The Chassidic Trauma Unit and Through Shadows Slow.
Book Details
| Title | The Ballroom |
| Author | Abraham Boyarsky |
| Genre | Literary Fiction / Dystopian / Jewish Fiction / Psychological Fiction |
| ISBN | 978‑1‑926716‑83‑1 |
| Pages | 232 |
| Price | $25.00 CAD |
| Format | Paperback |
| Publisher | 8th House Publishing |
| Release Date | May 22, 2026 |
BISAC Categories: FIC028010 (Dystopian) · FIC019000 (Literary) · FIC046000 (Jewish) · FIC066000 (Psychological)
Buy the Book
The Ballroom will be available through all major online retailers and directly from the publisher:
- Order from 8th House Publishing — Direct shop
- Also available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and independent bookstores worldwide through Ingram distribution.
Media & Review Copies
Advance review copies (eARC) are available to accredited press, reviewers, and booksellers. For interview requests, excerpt permissions, or review copies, contact:
1‑888‑936‑3668
About 8th House Publishing
8th House Publishing publishes exemplary fiction, philosophy, esoterica, and other earnest works. Based in Montreal and New York, the press is distributed worldwide through Ingram, with a catalogue spanning literary fiction, philosophy and critical thought, esoteric and occult works, music and jazz studies, poetry, and non‑fiction.
Website: www.8thHousePublishing.com
Shop: shop.8thHousePublishing.com
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Cover art: "The decaying ballroom's last dance." Author photo: Abraham Boyarsky, February 2020.