Love Lane

‘A mesmerising storyteller’ The Times

1950s Northern England. Three generations of men, two of women. And A PLACE CALLED WINTER’s Harry Cane has returned from Canada….

When veteran Canadian wheat farmer, Harry Cane is brutally obliged to sell up and sail home to an England transformed by two world wars, his arrival triggers unwelcome self-examination for the family he abandoned, and for whom he has never been more than a distant myth.

His daughter feels duty bound to take him in but is riven with doubt and ambushed by a long buried anger she has never before expressed. Harry’s effect on the next generation is less predictable, and enables his granddaughter to deal with an unspeakable trauma, while her gentle husband feels seen for who he truly is. Can Harry stay and make a new life before it’s too late, or will he find himself cast out again, punished for having witnessed and understood too much?

From the rural plains of Canada to 1950s Liverpool and Yorkshire, LOVE LANE is a searing portrayal of escape and entrapment, and a powerful exploration of what home and family can really be.

‘Quite simply, you believe every word he tells you’ Independent on Sunday

What readers say about Patrick Gale:

‘The gift of Patrick Gale is to tell a story with such poise and grace of prose that you are wound deeply around every step of the unfolding tale’

‘Gale is one of those skilled writers who makes you forget you’re reading a book’

‘Gale is a wonderful writer’

‘A gifted storyteller’