We're All in This Together
CBC Books | CBC | Posted: March 8, 2017 8:12 PM | Last Updated: July 21, 2017
Amy Jones
Like all families, the Parkers of Thunder Bay have had their share of complications. But when matriarch Kate Parker miraculously survives plummeting over a waterfall in a barrel — a feat captured on a video that goes viral — it's Kate's family who tumbles into chaos under the spotlight. Her prodigal daughter returns to town. Her 16-year-old granddaughter gets caught up in an online relationship with a man she has never met. Her husband sifts through their marriage to search for what sent his wife over the falls. Her adopted son fears losing the only family he's ever known. Then there is Kate, who once made a life-changing choice and now fears her advancing dementia will rob her of memories from when she was most herself. Set over the course of four calamitous days, Amy Jones's big-hearted first novel follows the Parkers' misadventures as catastrophe forces them to do something they never thought possible — act like a family. (From McClelland and Stewart)
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We're All in This Together won the 2016 Northern Lit Award. Amy Jones won the 2006 CBC Short Story Prize.
From the book
Exactly two hours after her mother-in-law goes over Kakabeka Falls in a barrel, Katriina Parker has a miscarriage. She would never suggest the two incidents are related, but she also doesn't believe in coincidences. It had been an uneventful Friday morning, spent sitting at her desk updating the MLS listing for the Paulsson place and trying to figure out what she is going to make for supper that night and whether Shawn will be finished at the restaurant in time to pick Tommy up from tae kwon do or if she will have to end her open house early. And then the phone rings and Shawn is calling from the hospital and Kate is in a coma and no one can pick anyone up from anywhere. Did Kate finish mending Petey's soccer uniform or will I have to do that too now? Katriina wonders, before realizing what a horrible thought that is. She pulls back the elastic band she wears like a bracelet, snapping it against her wrist, the sting reverberating through her body, briefly quieting her anxiety.
From We're All in This Together by Amy Jones ©2016. Published by McClelland and Stewart.