Dawn at Last

Dawn at Last is an intriguing, ultimately enlightening debut novel about one person coming to terms with her past and it's future. It's about conquering one's fears, real or imagined, and it's about the bonding of six misfits who become closer than most families.

At the age of 37, single and never married, Donna Belauche – therapist, fugitive, entrepreneur – has everything in control until a chance meeting with an old sponsor from Montreal, and in her new home, Victoria. She has no choice but to start again, to run again, but she's tired of this way of living – she needs other options. She tries to do it all on her own, so as to keep her secrets, but her friends and partners get in her way.

Dawn at Last is a mosaic of fascinating, delightful characters, all searching for that exasperating taste of love in their own delicious ways. Their stories interweave – Ben the painter of interiors and exteriors, Sunaria and Andrea, youthful servers and still dreamers, Pierre and Charles, the partners in more ways than one. While set in Canada, this group picture has no borders. It is a snapshot of the issues of love's morality, or lack of it, caring no matter what, the clash between the material and the spiritual, and the art of life.

With humor and surprise, Lawrence Grodecki exquisitely portrays the essence of human strength and frailty, capturing the tender moments where we find a little love . . . or where love finds us?