A New Yorker best book of 2023
‘Joyous and lyrical, Snow Road Station is an ode to the North, in fact an ode to life itself, and all its possibilities’ Mary Lawson, bestselling author of A Town Called Solace
‘Like Elizabeth Strout with Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton, Hay has created a fictional world to which she returns, to great effect’ Literary Review, Canada
‘An exquisitely etched coming-of-middle-age story’ Ann-Marie Macdonald, bestselling author of Fayne
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A pitch-perfect story of love and female friendship from the Giller prize-winning author of Late Nights on Air.
In the winter of 2008, as snow falls without interruption, an actor in a Beckett play blanks on her lines. Fleeing the theatre, she beats a retreat to Snow Road Station – a barely discernible dot on the map of Ontario.
Lulu Blake, sexy and seemingly unfooled, is now in her sixties. Out of work, humiliated, she enters the last act of her life wondering what she can make of her diminished self. She believes she is through with theatre and drama – but drama is not through with her.
At the centre of the novel is the relationship between Lulu and her lifelong friend Nan. As the two women contemplate growing older, they surrender certain hard-held dreams and confront the limits of the choices they have made.
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What readers LOVE about SNOW ROAD STATION…
‘Beautifully written‘ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘A very human story that tells us you don’t have to be perfect and it’s okay to fail’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Snow Road Station is an utter delight! A breathtaking setting, unforgettable characters, and a compelling plot pushing the reader forward with her lovely prose‘ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Elizabeth Hay writes evocative books that delve deep into the human character, and Snow Road Station is no exception’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Beautifully written, interesting characters, strong themes. Drenched in Canadiana from the hard work of making maple syrup to snowy landscapes … Elizabeth Hay reminds me to look, to see, to marvel at beauty that surrounds me’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Joyous and lyrical, Snow Road Station is an ode to the North, in fact an ode to life itself, and all its possibilities’ Mary Lawson, bestselling author of A Town Called Solace
‘Like Elizabeth Strout with Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton, Hay has created a fictional world to which she returns, to great effect’ Literary Review, Canada
‘An exquisitely etched coming-of-middle-age story’ Ann-Marie Macdonald, bestselling author of Fayne
________________________________________________________________
A pitch-perfect story of love and female friendship from the Giller prize-winning author of Late Nights on Air.
In the winter of 2008, as snow falls without interruption, an actor in a Beckett play blanks on her lines. Fleeing the theatre, she beats a retreat to Snow Road Station – a barely discernible dot on the map of Ontario.
Lulu Blake, sexy and seemingly unfooled, is now in her sixties. Out of work, humiliated, she enters the last act of her life wondering what she can make of her diminished self. She believes she is through with theatre and drama – but drama is not through with her.
At the centre of the novel is the relationship between Lulu and her lifelong friend Nan. As the two women contemplate growing older, they surrender certain hard-held dreams and confront the limits of the choices they have made.
________________________________________________________________
What readers LOVE about SNOW ROAD STATION…
‘Beautifully written‘ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘A very human story that tells us you don’t have to be perfect and it’s okay to fail’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Snow Road Station is an utter delight! A breathtaking setting, unforgettable characters, and a compelling plot pushing the reader forward with her lovely prose‘ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Elizabeth Hay writes evocative books that delve deep into the human character, and Snow Road Station is no exception’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
‘Beautifully written, interesting characters, strong themes. Drenched in Canadiana from the hard work of making maple syrup to snowy landscapes … Elizabeth Hay reminds me to look, to see, to marvel at beauty that surrounds me’ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Reviews
Joyous and lyrical, Snow Road Station is an ode to the North, in fact an ode to life itself, and all its possibilities
Snow Road Station is an exquisitely etched coming-of-middle-age story. With a touch by turns subtle and sensual, Elizabeth Hay explores the surprising differences--and crucial overlaps--between what we think makes us happy, and what actually does. Along the way, we are drawn imperceptibly into intimacy with characters who reckon with the past in order to remake their own--and perhaps the reader's--notions of what family is.
At the centre of this sensitive novel, set in Ontario in 2008, is Lulu, a middle-aged actress who has returned to the hamlet of her youth for her nephew's wedding. . . . Hay makes a case for the simplicity of pleasure: 'All you have to do," Lulu thinks, "is put yourself in the way of beauty, put yourself into the incredible swing of it
A moving novel about ageing and transformation. . . . Snow Road Station amazed me
Like Elizabeth Strout with Olive Kitteridge and Lucy Barton, Hay has created a fictional world to which she returns, to great effect. Both His Whole Life and Snow Road Station stand on their own, but there's real pleasure in reading them consecutively and re-encountering the characters at later stages of their lives--and in different lights.
In this charming, engaging and eloquent novel, Lulu takes centre stage . . . . Like all of Hay's previous novels, Snow Road Station is a gift to be cherished.