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.

It’s a hard book to describe. There’s no real action or huge plot developments. It’s the 3 characters coming to terms with their lives. For Mrs. Orchard and Liam, it is the past. They are dealing with. For little Clara, it is coping with the disappearance of her older sister. Each narration is interesting. Each narration comes to its own conclusion. A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson, Maggie Huculak (narrator), Tajja Isen (Narrator), Ian Lake (Narrator) Her popular but volatile sixteen year old sister has run-way from home after one of a series of rows with their mother – and has not been heard from for several weeks 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.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.

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.I’ve been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her novels is just a marvel”—Anne Tyler 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.