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…

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