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Road Ends
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
17 posts | 12 read | 19 to read
From an acclaimed writer whose work invites comparisons to Elizabeth Strout, Rick Bass, and Richard Ford comes a brilliantly layered novel about self-sacrifice, family relationships, and the weight of our responsibility to those we love. The New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Crow Lake and The Other Side of the Bridge returns with a brilliantly layered novel about self-sacrifice, family relationships, and the weight of our responsibility to those we love. Twenty-one-year-old Megan Cartwright has never been outside Struan, Ontario, a small town of deep woods and forbidding winters. The second oldest in a house with seven brothers, Megan is the caregiver, housekeeper, and linchpin of the family, but the day comes when she decides its time she had a life of her own. Leaving everything behind, Megan sets out for London. In the wake of her absence, her family begins to unravel. Megans parents and brothers withdraw from one another, leading emotionally isolated lives while still under the same roof. Her oldest brother, Tom, reeling from the death of his best friend, rejects a promising future to move back home. Emily, her mother, rarely leaves the room where she dreamily dotes on her newborn son, while Megans four-year-old brother, Adam, is desperate for warmth and attention. And as time passes, Megans father, Edward, stubbornly refuses to acknowledge that his household is coming undone. Torn between her independence and family ties, Megan must make an impossible choice. Nuanced, compelling, and searingly honest, Road Ends illuminates how we each make peace with the demands of love. Mary Lawson delivers compassion and heartbreak in equal measure in her most stunning novel to date. Praise for Road Ends Mary Lawsons story of a dysfunctional family in a northern Ontario logging town is told in scenes that are as palpably tender and surprising as they are quietly disturbing. . . . [Lawson] has an uncanny talent for evoking the textures of her characters moods while moving them unsentimentally through London and Struan.The New York Times Book Review Like all great writersand Lawson is among the finestshe tells her story in a deceptively simple and straightforward way, but one that resonates with anyone who has ever struggled with doing the right thing by a family member despite a desperate longing to escape that burden.The Star [Lawson] can justifiably lay claim to an oeuvre as well as a personal geography. If the part of Ontario west of Toronto is Munro country, then the area northwest of New Liskeard and Cobaltwhere her fictional towns of Struan and Crow Lake are roughly locatedmay well end up being dubbed Lawson Country.National Post A beautiful novel, with the psychological twists and turns of each character gently and poignantly unfurled.The Globe and Mail From the Hardcover edition.
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sherrisilvera
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Finished Nov today and just started December #bookspin. I love Mary Lawson!

@TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 12mo
27 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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TrishB
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Pickpick

Oh she writes such beautiful, ordinary, heart wrenching stories.
Megan the MC was amazing - even though I wanted to shout loudly at her occasionally.
Finished with a lump in my throat.

Amiable I love Mary Lawson and I wish she would write faster! I‘ve read all of her books and would love more. 2y
Tamra Echoing @Amiable 2y
BarbaraBB Beautiful review. I haven‘t read anything by het but I do have one on my shelves that I will read soon now 2y
See All 7 Comments
TrishB @BarbaraBB that‘s the one that got her name known I think- they are all good though ❤️ 2y
Cathythoughts Oh well done ! She is so worthwhile to read. ❤️❤️❤️ 2y
TrishB @Cathythoughts she definitely is. 2y
96 likes3 stack adds7 comments
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AnneCecilie
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Pickpick

Meet the Cartwrights. The father spends all his time at his job or his office. His wife spends all her time with the newest baby. They have 7 kids. Tom the oldest, who is going through some stuff. Megan the second oldest and the only girl, has been helping her mum in the house for as long as she can remember. She is tired of that and leaves for London. A story told by the father, Tom and Megan

About family and the sacrifices we make for family

AnneCecilie With this, I have now read all of Mary Lawson‘s novel and just hope I don‘t have to wait too long for her next one. #DoubleSpin @TheAromaofBooks #2013 #192025 @Librarybelle (edited) 2y
TheAromaofBooks Woohoo!!! 2y
Tamra Please write faster Mary! 🙏🏻 2y
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AnneCecilie
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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When you realize that it doesn‘t matter what people wear - they are still idiots

Tamra Such a great writer! 💙 2y
AnneCecilie @Tamra I know. She really knows how to pull you into the story and create her characters. 2y
52 likes2 comments
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rachaich
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Pickpick

Absolutely brilliant. Effortlesslyflowing , meandering through a few months and years and each chapter recounts a different perspective from a family member.
She's marvellous at this. 🤩😍

27 likes1 stack add
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rachaich
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Pickpick

Absolutely brilliant.
Effortlessly flowing, meandering through a few years and each chapter recounts a different perspective from a family member.
She's marvellous at this. 😍🤩

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rachaich
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Having read two of her other books, I'm so pleased to have found this on 99p kindle deal.
She writes so eloquently about families and relationships. 😊😊🤩🤩

Tamra Such a wonderful writer! 2y
19 likes1 comment
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Amiable
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Pickpick

Sparse. Bleak. Unsentimental. Complex, dysfunctional characters. Realistic situations and a complicated, unsettling ending. I am here for all of it. And after three of her books, I am now an official Mary Lawson groupie. Give me anything she writes and I will read it.

rockpools I keep hearing Such Good Things about Mary Lawson - will have to give her a go! 3y
Amiable @rockpools So good! But don't read her books if you need to have likeable characters and/or happy endings. Because you don't always get that with her. 3y
68 likes2 stack adds2 comments
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Amiable
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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How do I love tea?
Let me count the ways… 🫖🫖🫖☕️☕️☕️🥰

Tamra Enjoy!!!! 3y
BiblioLitten 😊 perfect! 3y
Cathythoughts 📚 🫖✨✨ 3y
69 likes3 comments
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Tamra
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Pickpick

There is something claustrophobic about Lawson‘s stories, but not in an unreadable way. The characters spend a lot of time inside their heads, which might explain it and I do enjoy. The ending of this one is unsatisfactory and what you might expect, and for that very reason realistic. Families are messy. I really wanted one character to get his sh*t together.

I confess it took a while for me to piece together the characters are from Crow Lake.

Tamra Lawson‘s books are compulsive reads for me - I always look forward picking them back up. 3y
62 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Tamra
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Going to take a few minutes for myself this morning before I tackle chores & work. 😃

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JenlovesJT47
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Yay! Thank you to everyone who participated in #myfavethingsgiveaway - the winner is @Book_in_hands ! Congratulations!!! 🤗 #giveaway #payitforward

JenlovesJT47 @Book_in_hands please send me an email at rltranscriptionist@yahoo.com and send me your address. I'll have your goodies out to you early next week! 🤗 7y
Book_in_hands Awesome!!!!!! This is a great surprise after Litsy being down all day. Thank you for this!!😀 7y
TricksyTails @Book_in_hands Woohoo! Congratulations!! 🎉📚🎉📚🎉 7y
Book_in_hands @TricksyTails thank you 😃 7y
37 likes4 comments
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Book_in_hands
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Congrats @JenlovesJT47 !!!! My favourite book this year was Road Ends by Mary Lawson. This was a book club read and we had a great discussion on it. I loved it because it made me remember growing up in my small town and it did name towns that I visited on my childhood. It was a great read and I bought another book by her that goes with this one. Thanks for this great #giveaway!!!!
#myfavethingsgiveaway

TheKidUpstairs I've been meaning to read Mary Lawson for years, and just haven't got around to it! Helen Humphreys visited a class of mine in university, and she mentioned Lawson as one of her favourites. 7y
JenlovesJT47 #myfavethingsgiveaway - don't want to miss you when I draw names! 🙃 this book sounds interesting, thanks for entering! 🙌🏻 7y
Book_in_hands @TheKidUpstairs you should give her a try. Some of the members in my book club liked her other book Crow Lake a little bit more. I have it, just have to read it!!! 7y
Gissy #myfavethingsgiveaway @JenlovesJT47 One of my favorite books is Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky. I liked those psychological dynamics & human behaviors between characters.Well written amazing descriptions. I read this one long time ago and I still have some scenes in my memory.I saw an old black and white Russian movie version and Raskolnikov room was exactly as I imagined it. Congratulations! Thank you for this opportunity.Very kind gesture😍 7y
32 likes2 stack adds4 comments
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Book_in_hands
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Review for book club tonight then start a thriller

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Book_in_hands
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Time to start the first book for book club!!! It may look like Fall but is sure doesn't feel like Fall🍂☀️📖

17 likes1 stack add
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Book_in_hands
Road Ends: A Novel | Mary Lawson
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Here is the list of books that my book club will be reading this season!!! One of my book recommendations made it in!!

Moonpa Good list! My IRL book club is just now picking new books for next year. 7y
Reviewsbylola I like how you choose ahead of time. My BC always chose month to month. 7y
17 likes2 comments