Unless is written in the first person, and thus the reader becomes intensely involved in the thoughts and feelings of the author's alter ego, Reta Winter. Like Carol Shields, Reta is a successful writer. She is forty-three years old and lives near Orangetown, Ontario. Although not legally married to her common-law husband, a family doctor named Tom, they have been together in a monogamous twenty-six-year relationship. Tom and Reta have three daughters: Norah, Christine, and Natalie. They enjoy a comfortable upper-middle class lifestyle in the beautiful rural countryside north of Toronto.
The story begins in June 2000. The timing of the novel is important, since it represents not only a new century, but a new life after a detour into grief. Her oldest daughter, Norah, has left behind her family, her boyfriend, and her university studies in.....
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