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

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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. Lawson, Mary (16 February 2021). "Mary Lawson: Why I write about the Canadian Shield". Macleans . Retrieved 22 August 2021.

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. 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) The book opens in the third person voice of a introverted seven year old girl Clare, with what seems to be increasingly autistic tendencies exacerbated by the tension she is facing making her something of an outsider at schoolPoised, elegant prose, paired with quiet drama that will break your heart. The sort of book that seems as if it has always existed because of its timeless perfection.”— Graham Norton, bestselling author of Holding and A Keeper Rose’s disappearance, though, is just the hook. What Lawson aims to explore here is family, especially mothers, and the ways – to bastardize Larkin’s famous phrase – they can mess you up. On the flipside, it’s clear that wanting to be a mother, but not being able to, can mess you up too. I've been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her novels is just a marvel" —Anne Tyler

I listened to the audiobook, which also has 3 different narrators who did an amazing job. This was the first audiobook that I did not feel the need to increase the speed. Lawson has complete control over her material and does a great job displaying human emotions in a calm, but intense manner - the comparisons to Anne Tyler are fully justified. But is this Booker material? It's a timeless piece, told in a traditional manner, and there's nothing wrong with that per se, but if the Booker wants to highlight timely material and cutting-edge literary aesthetics, this is not the novel to point out. My guess it that it will be a puzzle piece in a diverse array of texts that the judges want to present this year. As we cycle through these three characters’ perspectives in alternating chapters, we gradually come to understand the connections between them. There are satisfying parallels in that, on multiple occasions but in slightly different ways, a child attaches to an older person or an adult stands in as a guardian for a neglected child. All of Lawson’s creations, even the secondary figures, are dealing with distressing memories or a loss of some kind, the details of which might only emerge much later on. Solace offers myriad opportunities for recovery, whether kitty playtime at Mrs. Orchard’s or diner food and homemade ice cream. Completely absorbing… A Town Called Solace pleases at every level. It’s a captivating tale suffused with wisdom and compassion.”― Toronto StarIn hospital she talks in her head to her beloved now-dead husband and in her head reminisces about events in their life. I've been trying to tell everybody I know about [Mary Lawson]... . [Each of her novels is] just a marvel.