Ellie Lucan's about as far as she can get from the screwed-up teenager she used to be. She's got a doctorate, her husband's a prominent academic, and their children are excelling at a Montessori.

When she loses her teaching job, however, she packs up her sons to spend the summer in her hometown. She finds her mother suffering from dementia and the house in squalor, and she is forced to confront small town prejudice towards her biracial sons.

As Ellie is drawn back into the community, the strain on her marriage intensifies and she is forced to decide where her loyalties lie.

Clare Tacon has an MFA in writing from the University of British Columbia and is a past editor of Prism Magazine. In the Field is her first novel.

Claire Tacon