Part of Derby Book Festival - Autumn 2026
If you haven’t yet discovered the joys of Mary Lawson’s novels - just take it from the Festival team who are huge fans, you are in for a treat!
Set in deep winter, 1969 with the Vietnam War raging, driving young men north across the Canadian border, widower Jack’s quiet life is overturned by two accidents that happen on the bend in the road into town. First comes a dog in a bad way. Next a draft-dodger, seriously injured, lying in the snow. Suddenly, Jack’s cabin is busy with a growing cast of characters – and all the baggage, dreams and desires they’re carrying. But things take an unexpected turn when Jack’s daughter comes to visit.
This exquisite novel is a refuge, a story of connection and moral complexity taking us to Northern Ontario, the beloved world of Mary Lawson’s other bestselling, prizewinning Crow Lake, The Other Side of the Bridge, Road Ends and A Town Called Solace.