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Window of Tolerance: A Novel
No one believes Marta can get better—not her sister, not her father—and she doesn’t care. But when a troubled, enigmatic acquaintance from her therapy group goes missing, Marta discovers what she does care about: finding Thomas.
For twenty-six-year-old Marta, group counselling is just a distraction from her dead-end job as a janitor and her serious vocation of smoking weed. She’s been living with depression, numbness, and apathy for years.
In a rare act of engagement, she helps Thomas, a fellow patient who can’t wash the dishes because of the man in his sink. When Thomas disappears shortly afterward, Marta feels compelled to find the person nobody else seems to care about.
Through a hard Nova Scotia winter, Marta embarks on a quest that takes her to doctors’ offices, psychiatric institutions and the darker side of Halifax, where the homeless—the “Crazytown people of Sanity City”—dwell.
Is Thomas alive or lying dead under the snow? And is Marta really living or forever lost in the hypozone?
For twenty-six-year-old Marta, group counselling is just a distraction from her dead-end job as a janitor and her serious vocation of smoking weed. She’s been living with depression, numbness, and apathy for years.
In a rare act of engagement, she helps Thomas, a fellow patient who can’t wash the dishes because of the man in his sink. When Thomas disappears shortly afterward, Marta feels compelled to find the person nobody else seems to care about.
Through a hard Nova Scotia winter, Marta embarks on a quest that takes her to doctors’ offices, psychiatric institutions and the darker side of Halifax, where the homeless—the “Crazytown people of Sanity City”—dwell.
Is Thomas alive or lying dead under the snow? And is Marta really living or forever lost in the hypozone?
266 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 25, 2025
Gripping story about Marta who spins out of control at her mother's death. She moves through life using every drug possible and spends her life searching for a man who suffers the same mental curse as she, finally finding him in the end when their curse is revealed, alzheimers. The writing takes the reader through every painful thought, often quite profound, as she goes on her quest to find her fellow sufferer. Often dark and depressing but so accurately describes the quality of life of a homeless addict.
August 16, 2024
I just finished 'Window of Tolerance ' and thoroughly enjoyed it. The book is very well written, with an engaging plot and well crafted characters. I highly recommend this book.
November 14, 2024
moving and deeply human portrayal of addiction, mental illness, and our urgent need for one another. eager to see more of the author's work.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews