The Manuscript: The Life and Times of James Weymore , is an absorbing first novel by Joel Z Wagman, which will keep the reader engaged in non-stop page turning from its first page to its last. Thirty-nine years in its writing – including eighteen when the original manuscript was thought lost; it is a unique and compelling work of fiction. Commencing in Russia in 1892 and ending in Paris in 1978, with most of its events focused in Toronto and southern Ontario, its captivating story of lost dreams and renewal, is a landscape of love, suspense, hope, faith and struggle – familiar to everyone in its commonality of poignancy and joy.