Finalist 2015 Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Award for Non-Fiction Finalist 2015 Lambda Literary Award It would be one thing for me to leave, another entirely for her to be taken away.

Cease, the tough-and-tender debut memoir from Alberta writer Lynette Loeppky tells the story of a young woman who has decided to leave an eight-year relationship. As Lyn begins to plan her exit, her partner Cecile suddenly falls ill. In a tumultuous drop towards a complicated end, the young woman is forced to become sole caregiver to the woman she had been planning to leave. Set against the family values of rural Alberta, this is a story about how we love and why we stay, especially in a time of crisis.

Shadowed by secrets and desire, Cease unfolds as a brilliant and devastating memoir of how two women face the unpredictable forces of love and death. Compelling, terrifying, and unforgettable, this portrait will seize every reader’s heart and the head in equal measure. Lynette Loeppky’s unflinching gaze at the cataclysm of loss is vivid and intense, a coruscation of outrageously candid resilience. Cease is unique, transfixing, and beautifully written.

• Aritha van Herk