The Restoration of Emily

by Kim Moritsugu

Architect and single mother Emily Harada has structured a well-ordered existence around her work restoring historic houses and the parenting of her teenage son, Jesse. But her carefully laid foundation cracks when she develops a nagging ache in her shoulder, has her architectural integrity questioned, and feels shut out by Jesse’s assertions of independence. What she doesn’t need right now - or does she? - are the romantic attentions of a former student, an attractive but much younger man. Or for an old acquaintance to resurface with questions about a Bronze Age artifact that Emily might have, uh, stolen, once upon a time, in her youth. Emily, her son, and the 2,000-year-old artifact all come of age in this funny and moving novel about motherhood, middle age, and one woman’s attempt to restore herself to a state of grace that combines the best elements of past and present, old and new.

Genres: Canada, Fiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Kim Moritsugu was born and raised in Toronto. She holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees from the University of Toronto, and worked for several years in a corporate setting before becoming a fulltime fiction writer.

Kim is the author of the romantic comedy Looks Perfect (shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award), the domestic comedy Old Flames, the literary mystery The Glenwood Treasure (shortlisted for the Arthur Ellis Best Crime Novel Award), the domestic novel The Restoration of Emily (serialized on CBC Radio’s Between the Covers), the short Rapid Reads mystery novel And Everything Nice, and the suburban comedy of manners The Oakdale Dinner Club.

Kim conducts walking tours of Toronto’s North Rosedale neighbourhood for Heritage Toronto, teaches creative writing through The Humber School for Writers, and recaps TV shows online as The Hungry Novelist.

Coming in 2018: The Showrunner

Reviews

[Janet Berkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up The Restoration of Emily by Kim Moritsugu from the Staff Picks shelf at the library. As soon as I got going on it, I realized that I'd listened to it via a CBC Between the Covers podcast a year or so ago, but it's such a good story that I gobbled it up in a day. Emily is an architect in Toronto and a single mother of a teenage son, Jesse. Her specialty is restoring older homes. She's happy in her single, solitary life as a 50-something cranky businesswoman when circumstances bring back parts of her past and (possibly) a new future. The voice in this novel is witty and real. Emily's thoughts, her conversation with her friend Sylvia, and her interactions with her son ring impossibly true. Perhaps it's because we're in the same peri-menopausal bitchy life stage, but many times I could feel Emily's words coming out of my mouth. I definitely recommend this as a good summer read! It's fast paced, funny yet poignant, and for bonus points, set in my city.

[Elinor · Rating 5 out of 5]

The heroine has my dream job -- restoring old houses. It must be so satisfying to take a neglected house and bring it back to its former glory. Her less appealing challenge is dealing with a fractious teenaged son. (Since I raised four teenagers myself, I can identify.) Kim Moritsugu is an excellent writer with a wry sense of humour, and I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I stumbled across it while looking for books about women who inherit old houses, and I'll be reading more by this author.

[tamarack · Rating 3 out of 5]

It finally dawned on me that I *can* add books I've listened to by audio, and that this isn't really "cheating". This novel got me hooked on CBC's Between the Covers (just another reason to love CBC radio). This book isn't going to redefine your existence, but something in the wry and sarcastic-and-honest voice of our protagonist, Emily, won me over. Though I'll probably never be a 50-ish architect single mom, I nonetheless sympathised with and felt eerily similar to this character. I already recommended this to my one architect friend, but I have no idea if she followed up on it...

[Melinda Worfolk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many other reviewers, I listened to this on CBC's Between the Covers. I really enjoyed it! It's a light story, well-written, with a likable main character and a good narrative voice. I downloaded the podcasts (sadly no longer available) and listened to them during the many hours of driving I was doing for my job at the time. They kept me engaged and made the drive interesting instead of tedious. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a humour-filled, intelligent, happy book.

[Colleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Architect and single mother Emily deals with motherhood and middle age. I really enjoyed this book, mainly because Emily had a wicked sense of humour. She spoke her mind and some of the things she said to people were priceless. Her anti-social tendencies also appealed to me, I guess. I’d definitely try other novels by this author. She’s Canadian, too.

[Rosemary · Rating 2 out of 5]

An older divorced mother has to deal with her son, who is growing up and is at the stage where he is finding his own way. She has focused much of her life on him and now must focus on something else.

[Tanya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to read a book set in Toronto. Otherwise, I wouldn't have read it. As someone who is usually welcoming to the passing of the years, it made me dread reaching my mid 40s. And teenagers sound like a serious disaster to parent!

[Fran · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this brisk and witty book about an architect and single mother going through changes professional and personal. It was deftly handled and a pleasure to read.

[Maryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An easy and enjoyable book about a woman navigating through a mid-life crisis

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed it. The whole part about the armlett didn't really make sense to me. I thought it would go differently. I appreciated the author's humor.

[Margaret Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love this author's voice... saucy and smart - great book and a new favourite writer for me!