A Town Called Solace: ‘Will break your heart’ Graham Norton

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In small town Solace, Ontario, in the 1970’s, eight-year-old Clara keeps a daily vigil at the window as she awaits her missing sister Rose’s return. Her neighbor, Mrs. Orchard (Elizabeth) is in the hospital and Clara’s job is to take care of her cat, Moses. Her suspicions are on high alert when she sees a man move into Elizabeth’s home.

Set in the frozen north of Canada in 1972, this is a novel of painful histories and the moments in life when we can change for the better.I’ve been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her novels is just a marvel”—Anne Tyler This deftly-structured novel draws together the stories of three people at three different stages in life, each of whom is grappling with loss. We were captivated by A Town Called Solace’s beautifully paced, compassionate, sometimes wry examination of small-town lives.”—2021 Booker Prize Judges Lawson is a graceful writer whose un-showy style always hides surprising depths.”—Toronto Public Library Reading a book by Mary Lawson is like enjoying time with a friend. A Town called Solace is her first book in several years so it was like a reunion with an old friend.

A Town Called Solace is, like its predecessors, a nuanced, probing novel – one that asks what it is to be family, to be valued; and whether there’s a difference between the two. In a scene where Liam discovers a trove of his childhood artwork amidst Elizabeth’s belongings, Lawson hints at an answer. His mother had always dismissed his creative endeavours, so Liam finds his attention drawn less to the pictures themselves than to the “crisp, fragile remains” of the tape at their corners – yellowed testament to the pride of place they once held on someone’s wall. Enter thirtyish Liam Kane, newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly arrived in this small northern town, where he promptly moves into the house next door — watched suspiciously by astonished and dismayed Clara, whose elderly friend, Mrs. Orchard, owns that home. Around the time of Rose's disappearance, Mrs. Orchard was sent for a short stay in hospital, and Clara promised to keep an eye on the house and its remaining occupant, Mrs. Orchard's cat, Moses. As the novel unfolds, so does the mystery of what has transpired between Mrs Orchard and the newly arrived stranger. A Town Called Solace, like her other books, is about family relationships. And even though it doesn’t delve into themes I’d call “Shakespearean” because of their complexity and universal truths—themes of her earlier books, Crow Lake, Road Ends, and The Other Side of the Bridge—it is no less affecting. Liam, newly divorced and newly unemployed, moves into the house next door and within hours gets a visit from the police.Williams and his fellow judges – chair Maya Jasanoff, the historian; writer and editor Horatia Harrod; actor Natascha McElhone; novelist and professor Chigozie Obioma – read 158 books to come up with their longlist of 13.