Review: The Sow’s Ear Café by Holly Quan

Ending up in Sweetgrass, Alberta, while on a drive to clear her head of thirty-nine years of bad decisions and emotional baggage, Lucie slowly finds love and acceptance in her new town. The Sow’s Ear Café by Holly Quan transports the tough and damaged Lucie from her shallow life in Vancouver to Sweetgrass’s potential for deeper human connections.

Staked to her journey by a friend, Lucie’s car breaks down in Sweetgrass. She soon finds herself renting a room from a goodhearted ranching couple, working as a waitress, and then dating Ray, the mysterious chef of the Sow’s Ears Café. The therapy of horses, nature hikes and crisp, cool air soon chisel down walls built up from a lifetime of doubt and lack of trust, and Lucie begins to let her instincts guide her.

Along the way, author Holly Quan introduces us to stoic, but kind ranchers, taciturn drunks and kindhearted barmaids – all people on the eastern side of the Canadian Rockies, a breathtaking place Quan turns into a secondary protagonist that shapes Lucie as she lives and works in the town of Sweetgrass.

The writing and storytelling in The Sow’s Ear Café comforts like a cozy, literary blanket. Quan’s prose builds on itself, stacking well-crafted sentences into a descriptive narrative that suddenly evolves into clear insights as Lucie finds her true path. Lucie’s character and development is revealed through her compelling interior monologue, a device that guides the reader into a deeper understanding of Lucie’s toughness, motivations and insecurities.

Occasionally, a scenario seems forced or too broadly painted, but the key, life-changing moments for Lucie fit perfectly, as she is immediately recognizable and relatable. Each decision she makes rings true because Quan has built up to critical moments with a keen eye for detail. Her characters speak honestly with each other, with the dialogue ringing authentic and never overused.

Contemporary romance novels too often devolve into silly scenarios that may entertain but fail to enlighten. The Sow’s Ear Café avoids such traps and rewards the reader with a literary journey of a simple but complicated love affair. Lucie displays a well-earned hesitancy, while Ray patiently reveals his affection for her. Lucie and Ray could be any couple who together struggle to make a relationship work while becoming their true selves.

The novel is a straightforward story of change – small things happen, big things happen – but all seem true to life. The events accumulate and soon the story becomes a charming panorama centered on Lucie’s transformation. Readers get a glimpse into a life lived, one where the rhythms of a small town offer Lucie rest, solace and reward. The slowed pace gives time for reflection, and Lucie allows the goodness and quirks of Sweetgrass and its people to reshape who she is and what she hopes for in her life.

The Sow’s Ear Café offers an opportunity to curl up and immerse in a world where second chances survive bumps and scrapes to turn doubt into happiness. It’s like real life – but with cowboys.