Unless - Carol Shields

Picked up this book at an OBCZ and was mildly intrigued by the blurb. I liked her sparse style and it references another Canadian writer Margeret Atwood whom I think is just superb. Reta's oldest daughter Norah gives up college one day and takes to begging on a street corner, becoming a vagrant. This novel charts her mother's reaction and her own thoughts about the position of women in literature and in life. The impetus to find out what led to Norah's mysterious behavoir kept me reading till the end - would have otherwise given up because it charts the inner worries a mother has for her daughter and is sometimes too fretful in tone. Have passed it on to the UK Bookcrossing Yahoo Group's sweepstake winner December mum and hopefully she'll enjoy it. It's made me want to re-read another Atwood this year.