A quirky, tender work of contemporary fiction about grief, love, and starting again at middle-age set in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, from the author of The Pregnant Pause and Fishnets & Fantasies.
“That’s the problem with loving someone, isn’t it?” said Margot with a ghost of a smile. “If you have a heartbeat, you’re bound to get your heart broken. Not just once, but over and over again… But the joy that happens in between the meetings and the partings makes it all worthwhile.”
Rose Ainsworth, the affable protagonist in Jane Doucet’s debut novel, The Pregnant Pause, is back in this candid, compelling look at midlife love, loss, and new beginnings. Rose and Jim, her husband of almost twenty years, have been living happily in Halifax, Nova Scotia, since moving from Toronto more than a decade earlier. With a satisfying career, two sweet rescue mutts, and her family nearby, Rose’s life is golden — until one day, her world unexpectedly implodes.
Widowed suddenly soon after her fiftieth birthday, Rose is addled by grief. Could that be why three months later, she decides to buy her friend Wendy Hebb’s sex shop in the tiny coastal community of Lunenburg? As she rushes to rent her house and store her belongings, her older sister, Daisy, worries that Rose is running away — from the home that she and Jim lived in together, and its constant reminders of what she’s lost.
When Rose lands in Lunenburg in a furnished condo with a year’s lease, a colourful cast of local characters keeps her from drowning in grief: a long-lost quirky cousin with a mysterious health condition; a busybody septuagenarian widow who pushes Rose to join a bereavement group; and a handsome restaurant owner who stirs feelings in Rose she isn’t ready to face.
As the condo’s lease creeps closer to its expiration date, Rose must make a choice — continue carving out her new life in Lunenburg, or move back to her Halifax home? Jane Doucet’s trademark heart and humour, along with the return of beloved characters from The Pregnant Pause and Fishnets & Fantasies, make Lost & Found in Lunenburg feel like a long-overdue catch-up with old friends.