Character study about a recovering alcoholic searching for the girl he did wrong. She was also addicted but is now changing her life in the small town of Ashton, Canada.
She’s Adele Symons who likes to be called Del. She has a year old baby and earns a living by cleaning houses. She’s a recovering addict. She lives with Mrs.Poole a kindly lady who looks out for her. Her latest job goes wrong thanks to the pervert husband of her employer EvaLynn Roussel.
She says the last two girls were fired for stealing. Going about her work Del hears Mr.Roussel return. He’s in the media room with nothing on but a robe. He switches cameras on, takes off the robe and tells Del what he wants to do. She hightails it out of there.
EvaLynn calls her and fires her for stealing. Her husband says she stole some video tapes of movies. With Mrs.Poole’s help Del tracks down the other two girls. They confront EvaLynn at one of her fashion stores.
While all that is going on Stan Hagen comes to town. He’s been searching for Del to try and make things right. He’s following a tough step from AA. He searches the town and asks a lot of questions. He leaves the rooming house in town to stay with an old farmer, Martin Lacey. Lacey is recovering from a heart attack and can no longer do the heavy gardening work by himself. He can’t pay Stan any money so he settles for room and board.
Stan has been receiving help from some elderly country people. Finally he sees Del’s picture in the local paper. She and Mrs.Poole won a prize at the annual Fashion Fair.
The book is about characters, most of whom are elderly. No self pity, just portraits of everyday people surviving. There may be too much detail about gardening work on Lacey’s farm but Lacey is a great character trying to deal with retirement and being alone. His wife died and his kids live elsewhere in Canada and aren’t in touch on a regular basis.
This is a good book that eases along as the different characters try and cope with their lives. The country people are portrayed in such a way that they would be nice to know.
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