In the wake of the WWI, the boys are finally coming home in this "gravely beautiful" sequel to the award-winning international bestseller, Deafening ( The New York Times). In the small, insular community of Deseronto, Ontario, two women welcome their husbands home from the Great War. But their joy is mixed with trepidation as they struggle to rebuild their lives. Tress's husband Kenan is young, shell-shocked, and disfigured. He confines himself indoors, venturing outside only at night to visit the frozen bay where he skated as a boy. Her aunt Maggie, an aspiring singer, has problems of her own. Falling out of love with one man, and drawn intimately close to another, she and her husband Am are navigating an inevitable, ever-widening gulf in their marriage. As the second decade of the twentieth century draws to a close, the tenuous futures of two couples become increasingly entwined. When startling revelations surface, the secrets of the past are unburdened—secrets that can either heal lives, or tear them apart forever in this "enthralling reminder of the toll the war—and all wars—take, not only on the soldiers but on the families who keep faith on the home front" ( The Toronto Star).
