Our next book and author have been confirmed! We will be meeting with Claire Ross Dunn to discuss her book At Last Count on April 18, 2023 at 7 p.m. All books discussed at Islington Reads are available for purchase at A Novel Spot Bookshop. A limited number are available from the church library. Please contact Anne Marriott at anne.marriott@gmail.com if you need to borrow a copy of the book.

Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86961715828?pwd=Y0w4R0ZNQkpadzg3L0xYb0swVVhYUT09 

A GLOBE AND MAIL BEST BOOK OF 2022

AS FEATURED IN TORONTO STAR, ZOOMER MAGAZINE, AND ON CBC’S ONTARIO MORNING AND GLOBAL TV

For readers who love Mark Haddon, Miriam Toews, and Sally Rooney

Paisley Ratchford is trying to keep it together, but in eight weeks, the Toronto apartment building she lives in will be demolished. A last-ditch effort to reclaim her abandoned childhood home on Amherst Island plunges Paisley into memories of growing up in the tight-knit community, and into the obsessive compulsive disorder that has only ever offered a semblance of control. Her compulsion to count in sets of eight had little effect on thwarting bullies, her father’s bad luck, and her mother’s mental illness—all of which return to haunt her.

When help arrives in the form of Paisley’s old classmate and tormentor Garnet Mulligan, her predicament only worsens. For a shot at a future, Paisley needs to stare down her past, including all the habits that have stopped her from thriving. At Last Count is a wise and often laugh-out-loud funny tale that proves we don’t always need to believe everything our brain tells us.