John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award, 2019 Saskatoon Award, 2021 Saskatchewan Book Awards Glengarry Book Award Jury Short List, Recognition of Literary Excellence, 2021In the early 20th century, as homesteaders in Saskatchewan are scratching out hard new lives on the Canadian prairie, William, an adventurer from New Zealand, brings his new bride, Louise, to the freshly broken earth of his farm near Watrous. Physical and emotional isolation take their toll on everyone struggling to survive in the harsh landscape, and when William and Louise's second child, Violet, is born "feebleminded," it plunges Louise-a woman burdened with a dark secret-back into a time of shame and regret,