Blink and you’ll miss Penguin Random House Canada’s audio studio. The only indication it even exists on the 11th floor of the publisher’s downtown Toronto office is the small red on-air light tucked up in the top corner of a windowless door.
Inside the studio, it’s a cozy arrangement, dim but warmly lit. There’s just enough room for two to work comfortably back to back alongside the audio equipment. On this muggy July day, freelance director Sarah Phillips is at the helm, along with PRHC audio engineer Caleb Stull.
Actor Thomas Hauff – who most recently appeared in the Hollywood film Molly’s Game and the TV adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale – sits on the other side of the glass, narrating the first couple chapters of Jamie FitzGerald’s memoir Dreaming Sally: A True Story of First Love, Sudden Death and Long Shadows, which will be released in August. The deeply personal book, about the sudden death of FitzGerald’s friend Sally in 1968, is predominantly drawn from the author’s memories; some chapters are told in third person from the perspective of Sally’s boyfriend, George, who had a premonition about her death months before she was killed in a freak accident.