On the windswept Canadian prairie, where fortunes shift as quickly as the weather, Shiel Crozier lives under an assumed name, a man running from the letter in his pocket and the woman who wrote it. He is what the title promises: a matrimonial deserter, clever and sensitive, carrying secrets that weight more than the vast empty sky. Then he meets Kitty Tynan, a spirited young woman whose hopeful imagination hasn't yet learned to guard against disappointment. As their connection deepens, the novel asks what happens when two people reach for something like love while one of them is still tethered to a past they'd rather forget. Gilbert Parker renders the prairie not merely as scenery but as a force, its flourishing landscape a quiet promise that lives can change in an instant. This is a story about the gamble of human connection, the weight of accumulated choices, and the particular cruelty of wanting to be someone you're not.
![Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords] — Complete](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd3b2n8gj62qnwr.cloudfront.net%2FGOODREADS_COVERS%2Febook-6253.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
![Michel and Angele [A Ladder of Swords] — Volume 1](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fd3b2n8gj62qnwr.cloudfront.net%2FGOODREADS_COVERS%2Febook-6250.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
