Dahlia Cassidy — Anne Cameron

Dahlia Cassidy was so angry with herself that if she weren't busy driving her '57 Chev back from Tofino, she'd have used both feet to boot herself in the arse. She figured she was just about ready to swear off sex altogether, probably forever. She had let herself get talked into leaving her kids with a babysitter and spending a wild weekend at Long Beach with a Frenchman she met at Toby's bar, where she and her fiddle provide the live entertainment.

Dahlia hasn't had much luck with men, including the different fathers of her kids. For years she clung to the hope that she'd just been fishing in the wrong bay and if she moved around often enough, sooner or later, with or without the help of God and the angels, she'd happen upon a man who had more in mind than some friction.
Her big sister Iris says her man troubles are her own fault because she won't risk losing control. As much as she hates to agree with anything Iris says or does, there is a sting of truth in Iris' charge. Dahlia is a survivor and the main survival tactic she'd devised for herself and her kids is self-sufficiency. In addition to playing bars at night she spends her days furiously picking wild mushrooms, planting trees and working her small farm. She is determined to be responsible for herself and beholden to nobody, and if that means hardening her heart to the risks of love, so be it. But Dahlia's shell is not quite as tough as it seems, and one day at a softball game, everything changes. Dahlia Cassidy is a delightful and hilarious satire on relationships from one of British Columbia's favourite writers--a rollicking, lighthearted novel with a cast of irresistible characters struggling to make sense of life in a small coastal town.