Gail Anderson-Dargatz is a Canadian author presenting at the fantastic Grimsby Author Series this fall.  Prior to this event which will be promoting her latest book The Spawning Grounds, I am reading previous novels.  I have already enjoyed the A Recipe for Bees which also has a British Columbia setting and have The Cure for Lightening in my to be read pile.

In Turtle Valley, Kat returns home to help her parents pack up their belongings in preparation for evacuation orders to escape a fast-moving forest fire.  As she assists her parents, she reflects on her own past while coming to terms with her parent’s aging and a family secret which has been buried since her infancy.  She learns the real truth about her grandfather’s disappearance and the resilience of both her mother and sister.

Like A Recipe for Bees, this story depicts both illicit love and the dependable love of a marriage past its’ prime.  As the story unfolds, Kat remembers her love affair with the neighbour and struggles with her own marriage to Ezra who is living with the effects of a stroke.  Kat has been a caregiver for both her husband and their young son and is exhausted.

I enjoyed the pace of this book and the pictures that began each chapter gave a little hint as to what would follow.  The intrigue of the past keeps the reader engaged, wanting discover more about the mysterious man and woman that keep appearing and to learn the story of what happened to her damaged grandfather as the family races against the pending fire.  I am definitely looking forward to meeting Anderson-Dargatz in Grimsby and having my books signed.