A Town Called Solace by Mary Lawson: Fiction

Solace is an imaginary town in Northern Ontario created by author, Mary Lawson to portray the nuances of family life in a small town.  The three characters are seven-year old Clara, Mrs. Orchard--a next door neighbour and Liam, an unemployed person who returns to Solace.  

Clara is on a constant vigil at the front window of her home waiting for her missing older sister to return. Through her monitoring she notices many goings on that don't seem right to her.  Mrs. Orchard is taken to hospital and Clara regularly cares for her cat Moses while Mrs. Orchard is away.  

In the meantime, Liam arrives at Mrs. Orchard's house and appears to have packed and removed boxes from the house.  This upsets Clara as she surmises that it is not at all appropriate for Liam to do this. 

Clara is kept in the dark as to the realities of this situation and hence the novel takes the reader on a journey of discovery through the eyes of these three characters.   It provides a suspenseful interplay of viewpoints from these characters that reveal their individual roles in this story.