Semi-Detached

A note to US-based customers: All Lit Up is pausing print orders to the USA until further notice. Read more

Hearts may freeze or thaw, but love never dies.

In December 2013, an ice storm buries Toronto as realtor Laura Keys prepares to sell a one-of-a-kind house on behalf of its comatose owner. Haunting Laura, and longing to be invited in, is a mysterious teenage girl with a Scottish terrier tucked into her coat.

As Laura readies the house for showing, she learns more about its owner, Edna “Eddie” Ferguson. Leading up to the Great Snowstorm of 1944, Eddie, a brickmaker, enters into a passionate yet ill-fated affair with her boss’s daughter. While uncovering the past, Laura navigates both the death of her mother and a troubled marriage straining under the weight of her infertility.

Across two paralyzing winter storms, set nearly seventy years apart and connected by a house and a murder, Semi-Detached contends with living after loss, love, and the meaning of home.

Insightful and evocative, emotionally intelligent and propulsive, this is a novel from a writer at the top of her game.

AUTHOR

Elizabeth Ruth

Elizabeth Ruth was named one of ten Canadian women writers you need to read by the CBC. She teaches creative writing at University of Toronto. Elizabeth’s first novel, Ten Good Seconds of Silence, was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, Amazon.ca/First Novel Award, and City of Toronto Book Award. Smoke, her second novel, was chosen for the One Book, One Community program. Her third novel, Matadora, was long-listed for Canada Reads. She lives in Toronto.

Reviews

“Semi-Detached is elegantly constructed and often beautifully written.”
– Quill & Quire

“If you’re looking for a novel that reads like an old-fashioned love story, but that also features some decidedly modern elements (including the fact that this is a dual-timeline queer romance), this will definitely be your kind of book.”

Awards

There are no awards found for this book.

Reader Reviews

Accessibility Detail

Language tagging provided

Single logical reading order

Publisher contact for further accessibility information
ebooks@cormorantbooks.com

Print-equivalent page numbering

Table of contents navigation

Accessibility summary
We adhere to the Charter for Accessible Publishing and have tried to make this ebook as accessible as possible. Our knowledge of accessibility standards is a work in progress so please forgive us if this is not accessible to you. This book contains various accessibility features such as alternative text, a table of contents, structural navigation, a page-list, landmarks, and reading order. There are no flashing, sound, or motion simulation hazards. Blank pages have been included to preserve the same experience with the print book. Please contact us through info@cormorantbooks.com if there is a feature you need that we have not included.

Short alternative textual descriptions

EPUB Accessibility Specification 1.0 AA