A nice Canadian story about a cranky old professor who is trying to finish a book on Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens but realizes he needs some help around the house to have any chance of getting it done. The story evolves into a tale of his new life with a young mother and her child who fills a hole in his life and becomes his new family. I would have been happy had the book continued throughout with this interaction and their day to day, but instead, a crisis takes place that somehow seems out of place and almost seems a little too fabricated and copy/pasted into the story. No ladybugs were mentioned in the story, I had to look it up later on to find the origin of the title. I will take a look at W O Mitchell's books and consider them as future reading material, as the style is very welcoming and it almost seems that some of the main character's experiences are based on his real life. ( )