At its heart, there's nothing new here. Wagamese takes an old, well-worn story, and puts his own voice on it.

And yet, that's where the magic lies. Wagamese's voice. I absolutely adored Medicine Walk and, when I started reading this, my first thought was, it's not going to come close.

I was utterly mistaken.

It's not the same story, but it's equally as good as that preceding novel. It starts with everyone broken, but looking with desperate hope toward the future.

"When you figure you've got nothing, moving back and going on can feel like the same direction."

Then, Wagamese just gives you one beautiful scene after another. He's truly a gifted author, and his passing before completion of this novel (or any other works he might have produced) is an utter tragedy.

I won't talk to the plot, because it's best discovered by each reader. But I will say, there's a lot to be found in these pages.

"You take the label off a can of beans, it's still a can of beans. Seems to me a label doesn't matter much at all. What counts is what's inside."