There are echoes of Anne Tyler, Margaret Laurence , and of course Arnold Bennett's Old Wives Tale, in this lovely character-driven novel of small town Manitoba. Charlotte, at 62, is diagnosed with a heart condition and decides to take early retirement from the bakery in Norman, MB where she has worked all her adult life. As a teenager Charlotte, a talented acoustic bass player, had high hopes of traveling the world as a jazz musician. Just as she and her boyfriend were about to take off her mother passed away suddenly, and her father went into a state of shock from which he never recovered. Charlotte postpones her travel, takes a temporary job in the bakery and allows her boyfriend to go on without her. The years pass and by the time her father dies she considers herself too settled to look for adventure. Her sister June who has also had a frustrating life (an unrewarding career as a hairdresser in Winnipeg, a failed engagement to an unsuitable beau) returns home and the sisters live together in the family house. The story moves toward Charlotte's big retirement party, while she reconsiders her life choices, and scans the possibilities for two young coworkers, a 20-something gay man who has returned home from Winnipeg, and a spunky young woman who has aspirations of becoming an actress, and reminds Charlotte of herself as a young woman. This is a beautifully written, sweet-natured, low key novel, with delightful, fully drawn characters that stay with you like old friends long after the book in finished.