With her husband, Bernard, two years in the grave, seventy-nine-year-old Harriet Chance sets sail on an ill-conceived Alaskan cruise only to discover through a series of revelations that she's been living the past sixty years of her life under entirely false pretenses. There, amid the buffets and lounge singers, between the imagined appearance of her late husband and the very real arrival of her estranged daughter, Harriet is forced to take a long look back, confronting the truth about pivotal events that changed the course of her life.
Jonathan Evison—bestselling author of West of Here, The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving and All About Lulu—has crafted a big-hearted novel with a supremely endearing heroine at its centre. Through Harriet, he paints a bittersweet portrait of an unforgettable woman with great warmth, humanity and humour. Part dysfunctional love story, part poignant exploration of family relationships, This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance! is a surprising tale of acceptance, forgiveness and, ultimately, healing.
