This debut novel will have you pondering your attachment to physical objects and how these hold unexplainable power to connect you with others...have you considering how your energy and actions ripple across social divides and age differences, influencing more than you could imagine...have you understanding how an ordinary person can become iconic through a series of smaller circumstances.
Mavis Howard thought she was happy. She certainly wasn't looking for epiphanies or personal transformation, but when her husband suddenly announces that he's leaving her for another woman-one able to give him the child that she could not-she can't help but start re-evaluating her entire life. She doesn't like what she sees. So, after a cathartic awakening leaves her energized and present in her own body, in ways she's never experienced before, she leaves everything behind to start a new life, in a new place, with no expectations or obligations beyond simply being true to herself-whatever that might look like.
Settling down in Saskatoon, Mavis soon finds herself opening up to the world around her in novel ways as she begins to explore both her new home and her own heart. Then something inside of her shifts. People she's never even met are drawn to her and start volunteering their stories, seeming to somehow sense they can trust both their secrets and their precious possessions to her safekeeping. Before long, her life is full to overflowing with rich emotions and poignant memories-none of them her own. As her collection of stories and entrusted treasures grows and starts to take on a life of its own, in ways no one could have predicted, Mavis finds herself torn between the desire to remain open and receptive to other people-and the need to protect herself.