The Pretty Place
by Laura Leslie

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Ivy Marshall wasn’t expecting the summer before starting high school to end the way it did. She had so many plans, from exploring the sprawling back fields of her town with her best friend, Robyn, to swimming in the muddy waters of Lake Scugog. Becoming the neighbourhood outcast when her mother became ill didn’t quite fit into her itinerary. Ivy hadn’t anticipated that the summer would bring death—so somewhere along the way, she decided it never had.  Almost two decades later, Ivy’s buried secret still follows her around everywhere she goes, affecting every misguided decision she makes as an adult, silently weighing down each step she takes away from her little town. The Pretty Place, her childhood refuge, harbours tragedy just beneath the surface, but only there can she unearth the truth.  The Pretty Place is a dark, comedic, coming-of-age novel that illuminates the importance of mental health awareness and acceptance while reminding us all of how powerful the mind can be—even in the absence of remembrance.

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Laura Leslie started writing over twenty-five years ago, when her first poems and novellas were published only in her diaries. Determined to break out of that “publishing” niche, Laura left her small town of Port Perry to study writing and communication, graduating with an advanced journalism diploma from Humber College. From there she found herself thriving in the tech industry, where she quickly worked her way up to head of marketing and communications at a Toronto-based software company. In 2018, Laura finally took the leap to full-time writer, fulfilling a life-long dream and completing her debut novel, The Pretty Place. Laura lives with her two dogs and her husband in Brooklin, Ontario. In her spare time, she listens to, writes, and makes music.

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Contributors

Author

Laura Leslie

Editor

Caroline Kaiser