Description

As a seven-year-old girl watches for her missing sister, a stranger moves in next door and a neighbour’s old secret starts to resurface…

In Solace, Northern Ontario, seven-year-old Clara waits at the window for her missing sister Rose.
Next door, Mrs Orchard’s house stands empty, Until stranger Liam Kane arrives to claim the home she has left him in her will.

Clara sees Liam as an intruder. Liam, newly divorced and unemployed, has no idea why Mrs Orchard chose him.
In hospital, Elizabeth Orchard looks back over the decades, to the child she once loved and the mistake that shaped two families. As the truth about Rose begins to emerge, all three of them must decide how much of the past can be repaired.

Longlisted for the Booker Prize, A Town Called Solace is a tender, quietly suspenseful literary novel about a missing girl, small-town secrets, found family and the chance to change before it is too late.

‘I’ve been telling everyone I know about Mary Lawson . . . Each of her novels is just a marvel’ Anne Tyler
‘Close to perfection’ The Times
‘Exquisitely poignant’ Liane Moriarty
‘Will break your heart’ Graham Norton

Publisher Review

It's already one of my favourite books of the year * Rachel Joyce * She has the God-given ability to convey the complexities of human nature in everyday language... Like a magician, Lawson hides her technique, and makes it all seem as natural as breathing -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday * A contemplative story about loss and regret, a slow burn of a read with a fire at its heart -- John Boyne * Irish Times * 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 * Irish Independent * The doubts, difficulties and uncertainties of the human condition are carefully examined in a way that is both heartbreaking and joyful * Scotsman * Subtle and darkly funny, this tender novel unspools the interconnected lives of her beautifully drawn characters * Daily Express * An absorbing novel * Sunday Express * Lawson has carved out a world in Northern Ontario that's vividly, absorbingly real... Carries you along from midnight to dawn, oblivious of the time * Literary Review * A Town Called Solace keeps you breathless with anxiety, then relief and finally even joy -- Ferdinand Mount * Observer * Close to perfection * The Times *