Harry Cane is an Englishman living and farming in Winter, a small town near Saskatchewan in Canada in the years after the First World War. The adjoining farm is owned by Paul Slaymaker, the brother of Harry’s deceased wife. It is generally accepted in their small town that the two are as close as brothers and they are known to be always helping each other with their farms. They are also, as Willie Nelson so memorably sang, cowboys (who) are frequently, secretly fond of each other. Their secret life comes to an end when Paul takes in a widow and her child.

It is from these opening chapters that the novel unfolds and evolves into a moving and sensitive generational tale. When Paul marries the widow, Harry resigns himself to a long and lonely life. Then he receives a letter from his daughter, Betty, in England. Harry’s first wife divorced him while he was on his way to Canada, and, since then, Harry had written home to Betty every year. He had never heard back until the arrival of this letter containing an invitation to visit his homeland and meet the family he had never known. Meanwhile, Paul discovers a life that he had never imagined, with a daughter, son-in-law and even granddaughters who call him Cowboy Grandpa.

One of my favourite genres is the family saga, and this novel nestles comfortably alongside the best works of Anne Tyler, Michael Cunningham, and Ann Patchett. It’s a story that skilfully unfolds and envelops while shining a light on the way families evolve, love and interact – with varying results. It reveals its secrets carefully and leaves the reader wondering, is the love of a family (in whatever form it arrives) the greatest love there is?