In her debut novel Linda Little tells the story of a reticent and socially backward young man named Jackson Bigney. Early in the novel Jackson finds the body of his hard-living, hard-drinking father in a ditch not far from the family home in rural Nova Scotia. The death of his father represents a turning point for Jackson and the rest of the Bigney family. Jackson's mother is left to run the farm and Jackson--who after enduring nineteen years of emotional and physical terrorism at the hands of his father has been rendered incommunicative and something of a misanthrope--builds himself a cabin in the woods. Jackson has no interest in farming. After moving into the cabin he goes on a drunken binge that last for several years, and to support his drinking sets himself up as a bootlegger. The path to self-destruction is interrupted however when he meets Ian Sutherland, a fiddler ten years younger than him. Love is a foreign concept to the reclusive Jackson (who, shielding himself from ridicule, has never formed a meaningful bond in his life) but Ian awakens a spark within him and the two begin an affair. When Ian abruptly leaves Nova Scotia to move to Toronto, Jackson, feeling betrayed, seeks solace in the bottle, but finds he no longer has the heart for it. He shuts down the bootlegging operation and stops drinking. To fill his time, he repairs a broken violin but soon moves on to building instruments from scratch. The discovery of this talent is his salvation, and through it he forges connections beyond his family and the immediate community. Little's story of personal redemption and self-discovery is emotionally rich and believable--especially where the Bigney family dynamic is concerned. The dialogue is sharp and often amusing. The myriad characters, sometimes very similar to one another, are drawn with a degree of care and precision that allows the reader to identify their distinctive traits. Little does not shy away from grim realities of rural life such as alcoholism and casual violence, but neither is she consumed by them. Gritty and truthful, Strong Hollow is also by turns entertaining and poignant. The novel is a quick read, but one that leaves an indelible impression. ( )

Set in Nova Scotia, this is a story of a man's self discovery. Jackson Bigney is both an outsider to his large, wayward family, and at the heart of it, resembling his parents physically and emotionally in ways that become apparent throughout the novel. Through many by ways, false hopes and new beginnings, this stubborn, often unlikeable man finds a new family and identity, while reaching a new understanding with his origins. Little holds on to a wide ranging cast, and crafts a genuinely touching romantic story (in the sense that goes beyond the romance of two people). The occasional clunky bit of writing in no way mars a story that grips, engages and satisfies.