Winner of the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction

When Melony Barnett's mother commits a violent murder, Mel is left struggling with the loss of her parents and her future. For more than two years, she drifts around the continent, trying to carve out a life that has nothing to do with her past, before returning to her Northern Ontario home and adopting a rescue dog?a mastiff with a tragic history. As she struggles to help the dog heal and repair her relationship with her brother, Matt, she begins to uncover layers of secrets about her family ?secrets that were the fuel for her mother's actions.

This Has Nothing to Do With You is a compulsively readable novel that follows a dynamic cast of characters, revealing the complexity of the bonds that are formed through trauma and grief?with siblings, lovers, friends, and dogs.

Lauren Carter is the author of four previous books of fiction and poetry, including This Has Nothing to Do with You, winner of the 2020 Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction. She has also received the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer. Her debut novel, Swarm, was longlisted for CBC's Canada Reads. Carter's stories and poems have been published widely in journals and longlisted multiple times for the CBC Literary Prizes. Her short story "Rhubarb" won the Prairie Fire Fiction Award and was subsequently included in Best Canadian Stories in 2015. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. An Ontarian transplanted to Manitoba, Carter lives just outside of Winnipeg, where she writes, teaches writing, and mentors other writers. She writes regularly about her creative process at www.laurencarter.ca.

"Grommet the Dog is my new favourite character! All his poor, messed-up people held me riveted to the page too. Lauren Carter has created a novel for our times: how do we learn to live in a world filled with tragedy? With compassion as big as her talent, Lauren Carter infuses this epic story of the broken-hearted with love, life, and hope. This Has Nothing to Do with You is an antidote to apathy and despair. I'm an instant fan. "--Angie Abdou

"I found it tender and devastating. A deep dive into the trauma created by family secrets -- and secret-keeping!" --Sarah Selecky

"Unflinching and mesmerizing, Lauren Carter's novel explores the daily impact of generational trauma, the need to love unreservedly, and a woman inching toward healing by dredging up the past. " --Emily Pohl-Weary

"Grommet the Dog is my new favourite character! All his poor, messed-up people held me riveted to the page too. Lauren Carter has created a novel for our times: how do we learn to live in a world filled with tragedy? With compassion as big as her talent, Lauren Carter infuses this epic story of the broken-hearted with love, life, and hope. This Has Nothing to Do with You is an antidote to apathy and despair. I'm an instant fan. "?Angie Abdou

"I found it tender and devastating. A deep dive into the trauma created by family secrets ? and secret-keeping!" ?Sarah Selecky

"Unflinching and mesmerizing, Lauren Carter's novel explores the daily impact of generational trauma, the need to love unreservedly, and a woman inching toward healing by dredging up the past. " ?Emily Pohl-Weary