Semi-Detached

Elizabeth Ruth

Cormorant Books

Synopsis

Acclaimed author Elizabeth Ruth explores what happens when hearts freeze and begin to thaw.

In December 2013, an ice storm echoing one that took place seventy years earlier buries the city where realtor Laura Keys is preparing to sell a semi-detached house for the comatose homeowner. Hanging around the house and wanting inside is a teenage girl with a Scottish terrier tucked into her coat. As Laura prepares the house for showing and sale, she uncovers more about its owner, Eddie (Edna Ferguson) and Eddie’s ill-fated relationship with her boss’s daughter in 1944. Meanwhile, Laura is also navigating the fate of her own relationship with her wife Catalina (Cat), which has been buckling under the weight of Laura’s infertility. Can Laura piece together the teen’s connection to the house and save her marriage at the same time? Or will everything change?

About the Author

Elizabeth Ruth is the author of the novels Semi-DetachedMatadoraSmoke, and Ten Good Seconds of Silence, as well as a plain language novella for adult literacy learners, Love You to Death. Her work has been recognized by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, the City of Toronto Book Award, and more. CBC named her “One of the Ten Canadian Women Writers You Must Read.” Ruth also edited the anthology Bent on Writing: Contemporary Queer Tales. She teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto. This Report Is Strictly Confidential is her debut poetry collection.

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