Having fallen through the ice in their younger years, nineteen year old Kit McNair has always felt different. Taking place during the 1930s in Southern Ontario, a farmgirl running around in boy’s clothes is not an everyday sight in a small town in the mid-20th century. When a German family arrives, with the father taking on the role of town doctor, Kit’s life is forever changed when they meet Rebekah, the new doctor’s daughter. With the threat of the second Great War looming on the horizon, Kit struggles to find their place in this new world, while also staying true to themselves.

While I found this novel a bit difficult at first to get into, I stuck with it, and was eventually rewarded for doing so. I really empathized with Kit and their struggle to be seen by both their community and their family. They wouldn’t be one to accept pity, however, as they forged full speed ahead amidst a very difficult time in this nation’s history. At the risk of spoilers, and given that I referenced the War earlier in this review, once the characters are directly involved in the conflict, I felt the novel truly succeeded in showing all sides of the war, both at home and on the front. There is certainly heartbreak, but also triumph.

Some of the decisions made by the characters are ill-advised to say the least, especially Rebekah, but at a time when little seems to make sense, and as a reader, you’re following young people who are forced to make life-altering choices with very little foresight or experience, things are going to get messy. I got a real sense early on that not everyone is meant to make it through this story in one piece, so I found it hard to put it down as I was desperate to find out the fate of these characters.

The winner of 2026’s CBC Canada Reads competition, Loghan Paylor’s mid-century novel is filled with magical realism and wonder. The competition itself can be particularly brutal as advocates usually have to pick apart their counterparts’ novels, but it certainly says something when THE CURE FOR DROWNING only received one vote against it over the four days of intense debates. It was a deserved win for sure.