The Broken Places

Finalist for 2023 Rakuten Kobo Emerging Writer PrizeA Globe and Mail Best Book of 2022A 2023 Standout Read at Consumed by InkA 49th Shelf Fiction FaveVancouver. A day like any other. Kyle, a successful cosmetic surgeon, is punishing himself with a sprint up a mountain. Charlotte, wife of a tech tycoon, is combing the farm belt for local cheese and a sense of purpose. Back in the city their families go about their landscaping, negotiating deals, skipping school. It's a day like any other--until suddenly it's not. When the earthquake hits, the city erupts in chaos and fear. Kyle's and Charlotte's families, along with two passersby, are thrown together in an oceanfront mansion. The conflicts that beset these wildly different people expose the fault lines beneath their relationships, as they question everything in an effort to survive and reunite with their loved ones stranded outside the city. Frances Peck's debut novel examines the unpredictable ways in which disaster can shake up lives and test personal resilience.