Mary Lawson - Solace In Winter
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley.
Mary Lawson's 2021 novel A Town Called Solace was one of my favourites from that year's Booker Prize longlist, but it's not a book I thought needed a sequel. When I heard that Lawson was returning to the town with Solace In Winter I was a little sceptical that this might be a direct sequel (though her other novels, set in the fictional town of Struan, aren't directly linked, so I don't know why I was suddenly worried about this) but that isn't the case, and there's no need to have read A Town Called Solace before this. As it is, this is a gorgeous standalone novel that I think serves as a very good introduction to Lawson's work if you're not already familiar with her. And, given that the Booker judges saw fit to award M John Harrison with something of a legacy award this year - a well deserved legacy award, but a legacy award nonetheless - and given that Lawson is 80 years old and has been longlisted for the Booker twice but has never won it, I wonder if this might be a very early contender for next year's prize.
I'm a big fan of books where people retreat to remote, inhospitable places to retire/find themselves/start a new life/flee something/etc. Favourites include books like The Shipping News, Stone Yard Devotional, and The Land In Winter, and I'm delighted to now be able to add Solace In Winter to that list, because I loved this.
Solace In Winter follows a small cast of characters in the 1960s. Chris is an American student who has been called up to serve in Vietnam and flees north to avoid the draft; Jack is an elderly resident of Solace, a lonely widower who is seeing out his retirement in seclusion; Ellie is a nurse, dissatisfied with her life and marriage, whose life ends up entwined with the two of them. I won't say any more about what brings the three of them together in order to avoid spoilers, other than to say that it's all very organic. The perspective moves back and forth between these three characters, and I initially wasn't really sure what purpose Ellie's perspective served here. The book starts out really exploring the relationship between Jack and Chris and their own personal situations, and Ellie's chapters felt a little superfluous. But part of the magic of Solace In Winter is how Lawson very deftly changes what the book is beneath your feet without you noticing it, and by the end it was Ellie's chapters that felt the most vital and important to me.
Lawson has always done an excellent job of capturing complex, emotionally rich characters, and she's at the top of her game here. My sympathies towards these characters and my opinions of them shifted dramatically from scene to scene, and at all times they feel real and alive and completely justified in their actions, even when I was mentally screaming at them to make literally any other decision.
This is a cosy, comforting read that's perfect for winter, but that warmth is concealing a jagged heart of ice that pokes through when you least expect it. It all seems like it's heading towards a nice, warm, happy ending for everyone - and it some senses it does - but without any major spoilers we must not forget that all cops are bastards, and the end that we actually get is bittersweet, tinged with regret and pain and the grief of what could have been if only things could be different.
I think it's fairly clear that I adored this book, and I absolutely recommend it. It's also prompted me to pick up A Town Called Solace again, which I haven't read since it was longlisted for the Booker, and to also finally pick up The Other Side Of The Bridge, which I've somehow never got around to reading.