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

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It is a book with a strong sense of place – in a small, remote and very much enclosed community – one very different from anything I have experienced or will experience You can’t get much farther north than the Ontario of Mary Lawson’s icy, compelling stories of calamity and redemption. A Town Called Solace keeps you breathless with anxiety, then relief and finally even joy.’ I discovered Mary Lawson in 2015 with Road Ends and caught up with Crow Lake in the summer of 2019. All four of her books are set in fictional locations inspired by the villages and rural areas of Northern Ontario, where the author grew up before moving to England in 1968. So Solace, while not a real town, is true to her memory and, despite the sometimes gruff or know-it-all locals, an emotional landmark for the three central characters, all of whom are processing trauma and looking for places of comfort where they can start over.

That isn’t to say that the book is a sunny read. Set in remote Northern Ontario in 1972, it is narrated by three characters. Seven-year-old Clara is alienated and mourning her missing teenage sister and finds solace in caring for the cat of her elderly neighbor who is in the hospital. That neighbor, Mrs. Orchard, harbors a secret from her past and is trying to make late-life amends. The third person, Liam, is emotionally stunted for reasons he doesn’t quite understand, and is inexplicably given the house by Mrs. Orchard. excellent depiction of the setting of Solace, a fictional small town in northern Ontario. I felt like a part of this community.Beautifully written and so finely crafted; told in the kind of prose I most admire because it takes what appears to be complicated and makes it clear . . . These interwoven stories of three people at different stages of life, and yet each struggling with their own form of loss and grief, will stay with me the way good friendships stay with you. It's already one of my favourite books of the year Rachel Joyce Mary Lawson writes with a pure simplicity... she has the God-given ability to convey the complexities of human nature in everyday language... It was only on a second reading that I came to realise quite how intricately plotted A Town Called Solace is: like a magician, Lawson hides her technique, and makes it all seem as natural as breathing... she possesses an instinctive feel for when to withhold information, and when to release it Craig Brown, Mail on Sunday The sister is called Rose – and her mother regrets the harsh words she exchanged with her in a life together which now seems too brief I go with the stars defined as ★★★= I liked it, but often I don’t have much to say about it (our buddy read thread was quite lean), and won’t remember it, but three stars can be a nice respite during certain times and slumps, like now.

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 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. Clara is the joining thread that keeps the modern-day story going as she tries to form a friendship with Liam and pray for the return of her sister. Clara does find solace in Liam's company and he is hers, and yet he is a drifter and his footing is always shaky. Lawson’s writing is such that it appears effortless but, as all the strands come together to create a rich and satisfying tapestry, her genius for storytelling becomes apparent.’This book is about family and found family. It is about small town Solace, where everyone seems to know everyone’s business.This is a character driven novel (my favourites)that left me feeling like these people had become a part of my life. The town is indelibly printed on my mind. For a short while, they were part of my world. Offering solace.....how many places or people offer you solace. Maybe it's a walk in the woods, a day at the beach, or just sitting in your yard listening to the sounds of life. Perhaps it is a person who makes you feel whole, a person who makes you feel relaxed and make the trials of today leave you for just a bit of time. Mary Lawson is a go to author for me. She never disappoints. Within the first chapter, I was invested in this story. Her writing is smooth and flowing, not overwrought with too much description. Her strengths are her characters and her dialogue.

I did want a bit more, which I suppose is better than wanting less. I wanted to hear from Liam’s mother, even if it had just been one chapter, and I wanted to know more about Rose. But those are minor complaints. The author beautifully captures small town life and the characters who inhabit the town. This is a quiet, lovely, and poignant look at lives that eventually intertwine in unexpected ways. Beautifully told, this is a deceptively simple story of flawed people (aren’t we all?) who live with regrets, and have known grief, but also joy. Solace is not just a town in Ontario, it’s what we can offer one another if we open our hearts. Highly recommended, this is a story that will touch your heart. a character-driven story with a touch of mystery. The intertwining storylines of 7-year-old Clara, newly-divorced Liam, and elderly Elizabeth (Mrs. Orchard) are well-developed. I felt empathy for them at times; frustration at other times. I looked forward to see how their stories would evolve; and, Clara- an almost 8 year old whose family is going through a crisis. Her sister, Rose, has run away and has not returned. She lives next door to Mrs. Orchard. A Town Called Solace keeps you breathless with anxiety, then relief and finally even joy Ferdinand Mount, Observer 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.I thought this was brilliant, I went in thinking it was going to be Anne Tylerish, kind of domestic fiction and discovered something way more complex and understated.