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Title: Explora Books Announces London Book Fair Feature of Kay Marie Perrin’s Novel on Women’s Lives and Family History

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 11th Feb 2026 - Based on true events, The Spinster I Once Knew is a historically grounded novel shaped by memory, research, and lived detail. Perrin traces her family’s past back to 19th-century Colorado, following brothers Henry and Peter Schattinger as they move from factory labor into ranching life in the American West. Their choices, ambitions, and compromises form the backdrop for a later generation, culminating in the figure of Aunt Clara—an unmarried woman whose independence and privacy defined her place in the family, even as they left much unsaid.The novel is told through the voice of a young narrator who observes more than she understands. This perspective gives the book its steady tension. Clara’s life is revealed slowly, through inherited objects, remembered visits, and the lingering presence of an old trunk that suggests far more than it explains. Perrin resists easy answers. Instead, she allows silence, routine, and small decisions to carry meaning.What sets The Spinster I Once Knew apart is its balance between historical scope and personal focus. The book pays close attention to work, migration, and domestic life without turning its characters into symbols. Clara is not framed as a legend or a puzzle to be solved, but as a woman shaped by her time who made deliberate choices within its limits. The result is a portrait that feels grounded and lived-in, rather than shaped for effect.Early readers have noted the book’s restraint and emotional clarity. Reviews point to Perrin’s careful prose and her ability to turn family research into narrative without losing intimacy. Book clubs, in particular, have responded to the way the novel opens conversations about inheritance, secrecy, and what families choose to preserve—or...

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