cover image THE NIGHT GARDEN

THE NIGHT GARDEN

Pamela Holm, . . MacAdam/Cage, $23 (250pp) ISBN 978-1-59692-118-4

Toughing it out in San Francisco, single mother Dawn and her nine-year-old daughter, Jewel, prove a sympathetic pair in Holm's fresh first novel (after her memoir The Toaster Broke , So We're Getting Married ). After years of ambivalence about her relationship with David, an overbearing artist, Dawn (an exterminator by profession, illustrator by ambition) finally calls it quits and moves into a new house with a view of the San Francisco Bay and a downstairs studio she plans to rent out. Enter Harlan, a 30-something video producer at loose ends since his marriage with Macie fell apart under the strain of trying unsuccessfully to conceive a baby. Holm deftly and humorously brings Harlan and Dawn together when he responds to Dawn and Jewel's ad for their basement flat, finds a warm reception in their home and helps to reconstruct the overgrown garden. In a refreshingly unpredictable outcome, Dawn and Harlan become good friends while Harlan's best friend and business partner, Jason, serves as Dawn's love interest. With a quirky protagonist who likes bugs and her spunky daughter who keeps a rat, Holm has fashioned a charming urban tale of heartbreak and survival. Agent, Stephanie Rostan. (May)