The Ice Widow

During her first teaching year away from her Halifax home-in Endor, an Inuit community on the far northern coast of Labrador-Anna Caine falls deeply in love with the raw beauty of the land, the warmth and acceptance of its people, and with Joshua Kalluk, an Inuk carpenter engaged to another. But when the pull of their brief affair proves insufficient to win Joshua from his betrothed, Anna leaves Endor abruptly and returns home, carrying Joshua's child and ending her own engagement. As the years pass, Anna and Joshua share parenting responsibilities for their son but little else. Joshua had moved on with his wife and their growing family, while Anna found herself adrift, longing for what she had lost and struggling to come to terms with her choices, fighting to maintain an independence that always left her unfulfilled. It isn't until she retires, amidst a terrifying global pandemic, and is called upon to act as a medical escort for Joshua during his cancer treatments, and eventually to accompany him on his final journey home, that she is forced to confront both the past and her own lingering feelings of love, shame, and regret. The Ice Widow - A Story of Love and Redemption is a beautiful and heart-wrenching work of literary fiction that delves into themes of honour, compassion, and inter-cultural empathy. Life can be both beautiful and tragic but is a journey to be honoured both in spite of its struggles and because of them-a journey in which redemption is always possible.