Also Known as Jaime Dorn: A Novel

by Karen Emilson

2025 IPPY Award Winner

"For fans of the Dead Romantics and Annie Hartnett, this is a humorous, nostalgic romp through small-town Manitoba, with a spunky protagonist who will win readers’ hearts."

When your whole life is a lie, how do you tell the truth?

Jaime Dorn is a tough-talking, wannabe artist whose train-wreck past has left her uninspired and insecure. Tired of the lies and desperate to outrun a police investigation, she hides her grandfather's ashes in a knapsack and jumps on a bus for the West Coast. Finally free of her shady, so-called parents, she vows to keep one final promise to Gramps and live an honest life.

But when she becomes stranded in a quirky, bucolic town a thousand miles from her destination, jaime must concoct a fictitious past to conceal her identity and the crime that will send her to jail. Everyone in town believes her, except for a shark-eyed cop, and the clairvoyant funeral director who's convinced she was guided there by her dead grandfather's spirit.

Small town life turns out better than she expects when she's embraced by the community and meets the man of her dreams. But as her shameful past collides with her idyllic future, jaime faces an impossible Keep her freedom by running from the life she has always wanted-or stay, tell the truth, but risk losing it all.

This heartwarming companion to Emilson's "Be Still the Water," is a tragicomic novel about finding one's place in the world, the consequences of keeping secrets, and the redemptive power of unconditional love.


“When I step into one of Karen Emilson’s worlds, I never want to leave. She creates characters who will live in your heart, set in places you’ll want to visit. Read Also Known as Jaime Dorn as soon as you can. It’s sure to be your next favorite book.”
- BETH DUKE, author of It All Comes Back to You, & Tapestry

350 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 26, 2024

About the author

Karen Emilson is the author of the novels Also Known as Jaime Dorn, Be Still the Water and the bestselling biographies, Where Children Run, When Memories Remain, and co-author of My Every Breath. She is an award winning former newspaper reporter and freelance writer. Like her fictional character, Jaime Dorn, she grew up in southern Ontario and moved to Manitoba’s Interlake region, an area well-known for its rugged landscape and resilient people. Most of her books are based there and the fictional stories she tells are inspired by small-town life. Now she lives in Winnipeg, but in the summer she returns to Steep Rock—where the air is fresh, the water pristine, and the characters who live inside her come to life.

Reviews

[Ashley Tully · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic read. Any woman who’s wondered “who am I?” Or “what am I doing with my life?” At any point in their life should read this. Being set along the backdrop of small towns and highway six brings love to my heart and it’s hard not to fall in love with Jamie Dorn. I need a part two of her and Magnus’ life! ❤️

[Donna Grainger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read this author before. Her research again is very accurate and I enjoyed the characters. My children have Icelandic blood, and both my daughter and I recently moved to Gimli so it was extra interesting to me. I will thank my neighbor for lending this book to me.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

A truly engaging read. The author beautifully captures Dorn’s view on life as she tries to navigate challenges she has to face. This book perfectly describes what life entails being in a small town. This book is perfect for those who are looking to add some fun into their day all while diving into a wonderfully developed plot

[Alfreða Jonsdottir · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book... the fictional town of Lundi could be my hometown. Anyone’s hometown. Even the people were familiar to me. Many of us look back to our early years through rose-coloured glasses, of which I know I am guilty. We did not have the material things we have today, but it was a good life filled with community mindedness. Caring, sharing, amongst a group of determined people who sometimes voiced strong opinions. Karen Emilson has captured that "spirit" of the ideal community we remember even while displaying some negative aspects of small-town living where everybody knows your business and turned it into something positive.
Settled by Icelandic immigrants Lundi is a fictional town. Although Karen has no Icelandic heritage or grew up in an Icelandic community she married into one. And obviously got to know them well. As an accomplished wordsmith she has made them come alive using characteristics such as determined, stubborn (ie. bullheaded), ambitious, generous, kind, fair, honourable but secretive at the same time. With a few unsavoury characters thrown into the mix, as well as a few individuals with skeletons in the closet, especially Jamie Dorn's well-kept secret, this story kept me totally involved in the lives of each character.
I look forward to a sequel to Jamie's life.

[Wanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen Emilson's writing is relatable and nostalgic. Having read Be Still the Water (5 stars), this was a wonderful follow up bringing in characters and connections throughout the story. I enjoyed laughs and some tears along the journey. I highly recommend to all book lovers to give this a read.

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful Canadian author, with beautiful prose. The book touched on great Canadian nostalgia.