Critical Injuries

About Critical Injuries

Forty-nine-year-old Isla revels in her career and happy second marriage despite her first husband’s shocking actions, while seventeen-year-old Roddy, eager to escape small-town life, plans to move to the glamorous city with his best friend, until an ill-timed encounter changes everything.

From the author of the Scotiabank Giller Prize finalist Luck comes the Man Booker Prize nominated Critical Injuries.

Isla and her second husband Lyle are heading out in Lyle’s truck for a celebratory ice cream treat. Teenaged Roddy is finally carrying out a plan he sees leading to a new, more hopeful life away from his hometown.

They’ve never met. After a catastrophic first marriage, Isla is recovering in a contented and sheltered connection with Lyle. At 17, Roddy is flailing, desperate for escape into a shiny future he hasn’t precisely envisioned.

Then in one unpredictable, unintended moment, Isla’s and Roddy’s lives intersect in an ice cream shop, and nothing can be the same for either of them again.