There was a real Henri.
And a real debt that couldn't be repaid.
When Gilles Jaitour was young, a kind immigrant from Holland entered his life — a man who offered guidance, steadiness, and a model of quiet dignity at a time when Gilles needed it most. That man became the seed of Henri.
Like Josh Bencet, the novel's protagonist, Gilles knows what it is to be shaped by someone who had no obligation to show up — and did anyway. He knows, too, what it costs to carry things unspoken for too long. The emotional landscape of Henri's Last Gift is not invented. It is remembered.
"I believe a good book should educate and entertain. But for this one, I had something more personal in mind — a way of honoring what it means to be truly seen by someone who didn't have to look."
Writing the novel was, in many ways, Gilles's own version of Josh's journey: a deliberate excavation of the past, undertaken not to dwell there, but to finally make sense of it.
The Real Henri.
From Haarlem to Canada — and into our lives.
Henri · Christmas 1978
Gary · Christmas 1978
Henri was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands. After the war, he made his way to Canada, where he became a cherished friend to the Jaitour family and a quiet guardian to many in the community — looking after brothers, a sister, and countless others who needed care.
He was the kind of man who gave without measure, who had no obligation to show up — and did anyway. This book is, in many ways, his.
Entertain the mind.
Move the heart. Leave something behind.
Gilles came to fiction by a different road than most novelists. His background spans psychology, business, and human resources — fields built on understanding why people do what they do, why they stay stuck, and what finally shifts something deep enough to change them. That understanding is woven into every chapter of this book.
He has never been interested in writing that only entertains. For Gilles, a novel earns its place on a shelf if it leaves the reader slightly different than they were before they picked it up — more curious, more forgiving, more willing to sit with the parts of themselves they've kept locked away.
Henri's Last Gift is his first novel. It took years. It was worth it.
Still curious.
Still grateful.
Gilles lives in Victoria, BC with his wife, Susan. His daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren live nearby. His son is in Ontario.
He is, by all accounts, a man who has found his way to the kind of life Josh Bencet spends the novel trying to imagine: present, connected, and unafraid to let the people he loves know it.
He would be glad to hear from you — whether you finished the book with questions, with tears, or simply with the quiet feeling that something has shifted.
