Kin - Softcover

Crewe, Lesley

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1551099225 ISBN 13: 9781551099224

Publisher: Vagrant Press, 2012

Synopsis

Traditions, created, and subverted. Love, nurtured and destroyed. Friendships, marriages, and the wild beauty of Cape Breton Island. And above all, kin, in all its convoluted forms.

In Kin, bestselling author Lesley Crewe traces the tangled lines of loyalty, tragedy, joy, and love through three generations of families. Beginning with Annie Macdonald, an effervescent seven-year-old living in Glace Bay in the 1930s, and ending with Annie's great-niece Hilary, an idealistic twenty-year-old in Round Island in 2000, the story is complex and riveting. The cast of characters is vast and varied-some with the island's deliciously cutting wit, some dour and uptight, some frail, some resilient, and all inextricably bound by their shared histories.

Brimming with humour and poignancy, Kin is a celebration of the heartbreaking, maddening joy that is family.

About this title

About the Author

Lesley Crewe is the author of several novels, including Mary, Mary, Amazing Grace, Chloe Sparrow, Kin, and Relative Happiness, which has been adapted into a feature film. Previously a columnist and freelance writer, Lesley lives in Homeville, Nova Scotia. Visit her at lesleycrewe.com.

Review

David and Annie Macdonald had great parents and a wonderful family life. Being children in what was known as the dirty thirties, Annie and David did not know what it was like to go without. Their father, Kenzie, was a mechanic at a local town shop and provided well for his family daily with hearty meals and a clean safe home. David Macdonald had no inkling that when the timid, frail, red-haired Lila moved next door to stay with a distant family after her mother died, that she would become the only women he would ever truly love. As children they played innocently, both David and Annie always protecting Lila, as she was a little different than the other children. When Lila began having problems with school, David's parents convinced Lila's guardians, who really had no time for Lila anyway, that it may be best if Lila moved away from Glace Bay to stay with people they knew on Round Island where the Macdonald's had their summer cottage. This is when it sank in how much David really cared for Lila. Years went by and although David still thought of Lila, he avoided visiting Round Island as often as his family. The day before he was to leave to go off to war, he made a visit Round Island to see Lila. They went for a walk to their favorite place to play as kids "The Fairie Tree" where David confessed his love to Lila, and Lila her love to him. David asked Lila to wait for him to come back from war. He said they would make a life together and raise a family, David showed Lila that evening just how much he loved her. Kin takes its readers minds from the seemingly innocent small town of Cape Breton Island, to the bustling streets of Montreal in a touching yet tragic love story tangled with love, lies, deceit and jealousy and ultimately fate.

Edition details

• Publisher: Vagrant Press
• Publication date: 2012
• ISBN 10: 1551099225
• ISBN 13: 9781551099224
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416