What would you do if you were a pregnant mother of three whose husband, one day in February 1982, dies when the oil rig he works on, the Ocean Ranger, sinks? If you're Helen, the main character in the book February by Lisa Moore (Anansi), you pretend that you’re coping, and after you’ve pretended for long enough you realize that you are coping, and after you’ve coped for long enough and your kids are mostly grown, you realize that you want to make a life for yourself.

This should be a sad story but it’s not, or at least it’s not all sad, mostly because Helen, wise mother that she is, holds her tongue but lets us in on her thoughts about her children’s outrageous behaviour, about her boss—who, when he isn’t crying on her shoulder over his failed marriage, refers to her as “the old bat,” and about Barry, the guy who’s painting her house and who she’s beginning to lust after.

Reading this book will loosen up your innards (in a good way) so you can cry and laugh and then laugh again.