Title: A Quiet, Compelling Read
Review: The Northern Ontario landscape comes alive under the pen of writer Mary Lawson in this novel which reminds us that wholeness depends emotional maturity. There are many paths to personal integrity, Lawson seems to say -- don't be so quick to assume that yours is the best way.The novel moves between an academic setting in Toronto and the land of muskeg and mosquitoes that is the far north, the settings of the protagonist's current (and emotionally sterile) life and her emotionally intense and challenged past.If you've spent any time in the Ontario northland, Lawson's prose will paint familiar pictures behind your eyes. The story's outcome is predictable, and some of the characters are too one-dimensional to be real -- but these flaws don't alter the fact that this book is an enjoyable read.
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