I hadn't previously discovered Miriam Toews, but I'll certainly look out for her now - thanks, OPF!
The Troutman family is in trouble - Hattie is called back from Paris, where her own love affair is floundering, by a late-night call from her eleven year old neice, Thebes. Hattie's sister Min is sinking into another debilitating period of mental illness, and Thebes is worried about about her brother Logan, who's in trouble in school again. Hattie returns to Canada to care for them, but when Min is hospitalised and seems to want nothing to do with any members of her family, Hattie panics at the unasked-for responsibility of a fifteen year old boy who scarcely ever communicates and an eleven year old girl who never stops. She packs up and takes the children on a road-trip in search of their estranged father - a trip which takes them through the USA and into Mexico. Did I mention it was hilarious? Against the serious tableaux of the effects of long-term mental illness on a family, Toews brings the bohemian characters to life, dirt and all, and a joy they are. It may not be an Orange winner - but I recommend it!
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