Enter Liam Kane, mid-thirties, newly divorced, newly unemployed, newly arrived in this small northern town, who moves into Mrs. Orchard's house—where, in Clara's view, he emphatically does not belong. Within a matter of hours he receives a visit from the police. It seems he is suspected of a crime. Liam is a character who the reader can’t help but feel sympathetic towards. His life, especially his youthful homelife is tragic. He most certainly received the worst mother possible. He isn’t sure why Mrs. Orchard left him her home, but we find out through Elizabeth’s chapters.

This is Mary Lawson’s fourth novel and I’d recommend a binge immersion. She has carved out a world in northern Ontario that’s vividly, absorbingly real; she captures tones and voices with exactitude in writing that’s idiomatic but never flashy and carries you along from midnight to dawn, oblivious of the time.”— Literary Review (UK) As we meet Elizabeth Orchard, she’s coming to the end of her life. Many years ago, Elizabeth made a mistake that had tragic consequences, and though she knows her days are numbered, she hopes she has enough time to make amends. A wonderful book, in which the best of human nature shines. It's not all brightness, there are traumatic moments, but there are people who care enough to attempt to provide a soft landing. An immersive story and if there is a town called Solace, this story is emblematic of its name. The cover is gorgeous as well. Another hit by Lawson whose books I just love. The story is gentle and quiet with moments of tension and also humour. I have not previously read a book by this author but I enjoyed her writing style very much and plan to look out for more of her work. All of her characters are delightful especially Liam and Clare who do eventually meet and develop a lovely relationship. At the end of her life, Elizabeth Orchard is also thinking about a crime, one committed thirty years previously that had tragic consequences for two families, and in particular for one small child. She desperately wants to make amends before she dies.Author Mary Lawson sits by the table where she writes in Kingston upon Thames, London, Oct. 22, 2013. For The Globe and Mail Clara, Liam, and Elizabeth’s lives, come together in love, grief and hope, as we the readers look on with a poignancy that tugs at the heart. Told from the POV of all three protagonists, it’s told beautifully!

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.The story is told by 3 people. Clara is a little 7-year-old girl whose older sister has run away. Mrs. Orchard is the neighbour next door who has asked Clara to mind her cat while she goes to the hospital. Liam is the stranger who shows up while Mrs. Orchard is away and makes himself at home in her home. This is a beautiful book told from the points of view of three main characters, Clare, Elizabeth and Liam. Clare is just seven years old, her older sister has disappeared, her parents are grieving and the bottom has dropped out of her world. Elizabeth is Clare's neighbour and she is suffering heart failure. When she is hospitalised she asks Clare to look after her cat, Moses, and gives her a key to the house. Clare takes her responsibility very seriously so when Liam moves in next door she has no idea what to do except look after Moses and Elizabeth's possessions as best she can. The ending was good, but, I want to know what happens afterward. I think this book could easily have a sequel. This is the epitome of comfort fiction. We follow three characters in a sleepy town in Northern Ontario town whose lives overlap casually, but who go on to have major impacts on one another. Elizabeth Orchard is an elderly woman who needs to go to the hospital for what she thinks will be a brief period. While she's away, she entrusts school-aged Clara to feed the housecat, Moses, a ritual that the young girl comes to cherish since her teenage older sister has run away, plunging her house into crisis. So little Clara is alarmed when a random man comes to stay at Mrs. Orchard's house. His name is Liam and he has a history with Mrs. Orchard, but one that is slowly revealed to the reader over the course of this book. excellent depiction of the setting of Solace, a fictional small town in northern Ontario. I felt like a part of this community.

The story is told from three-character points of view. Clara, 7 years old, is a dutiful cat sitter who begins the story staring out her front window, watching her neighbor, Mrs. Orchard’s, home. Clara’s teenage sister Rose has just ran away, and Clara feels that she needs to keep her vigilance of the neighbor’s home to assure Rose’s safe return.Three main characters from three different stages of life. Clara is seven, her older sister has gone missing and Clara is very worried. Added to that Mrs. Orchard, the elderly lady has gone to the hospital, asking Clara to take care of her cat, Moses. When Clara sees a strange man in Mrs, Orchards house she thinks he is a thief. This bring us to Liam, a middle aged man who is in the midst of a divorce and has given up his job. His life is very unfocused at present. Mrs. Orchard is at the end of her life, living in past memories. It takes true talent to represent these characters, all of different ages, and make them come alive for the reader. That clear-eyed humanism—the sort that is rooted firmly in the reality of life, but holds out a glimmer of potential for a measured, minor-key redemption—is classic Mary Lawson.”— The Globe and Mail Clara is looking after the neighbour’s cat – an elderly 72 years old lady (born at the turn of the century) – Elizabeth – who has gone to hospital for what she told Clare would be a short stay, but is already stretching out longer than either expected. She is our second narrator (on an almost but not quite contemporaneous timeline with the other two). Right from the beginning, there is an undercurrent that all is not right. From previous books, I know it will be a while before we get to find out what that undercurrent is. It is subtle, but it is there. Written in simple language, it’s easy to get drawn into each of their stories and watch them develop. Lawson is a graceful writer whose un-showy style always hides surprising depths.”—Toronto Public Library

The longlist is completed by Canadian author Mary Lawson’s A Town Called Solace, set in Northern Ontario in 1972, when eight-year-old Clara’s sister Rose goes missing.

Beyond the Book

Over time Clara begins to realise that the situation with Elizabeth is much worse than her parents have told her – and by extension becomes increasingly emotional as she realises that the same may be true of their reassurances about Rose and so starts to lose faith in them The most interesting aspect of the novel involves one woman’s unhealthy obsession with her neighbour’s child. Unfortunately, this wasn’t well-developed and played into some nasty stereotypes about infertile women. And by the time the storyline is fully unspooled… well let’s just say it left me feeling like the entire premise of the novel was one big plot hole. 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.