Louise Till, mother of two, has inherited her father's hardware store after her parents' unexpected deaths. She begins to cut copies of her customers' keys for herself, each one a talisman against grief and the terrible guilt she feels at not having realized that her parents were desperately unhappy.

Louise could use the keys, but she doesn't. Not until her life is overturned, again, when her marriage falls apart. Lou gives in to temptation, letting herself into Euphemia Rosenbaum's home. What follows is a tale of blackmail, break-ins, an unsolved mystery, and more secrets than Lou ever wanted to know.

Lou must confront not only the lives of her neighbors, but the unspoken truths of her family and the doors within herself for which there are no keys. Told over the course of one long winter, Unlocking is a poignant and penetrating exploration of grief, community, family, and the secrets we keep, even from ourselves.

Amy LeBlanc is a PhD student in English and creative writing at the University of Calgary. Amy's debut poetry collection, I know something you don’t know, was published with Gordon Hill Press in March 2020 and was long listed for the ReLit Award and selected as a finalist for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry. Her novella, Unlocking, was published by the University of Calgary Press in June 2021 and was a finalist for the Trade Fiction Book of the Year through the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. Amy’s first short story collection Homebodies is forthcoming in spring 2023 with Great Plains Publications in their Enfield & Wizenty imprint and her second full-length poetry collection, I used to live here, is forthcoming with Gordon Hill Press in spring 2025 and Amy’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Room, Arc, Canadian Literature, and the Literary Review of Canada among others. She is the author of three chapbooks of poetry— most recently, Undead Juliet at the Museum, which was published with ZED Press in August 2021. Amy is a recipient of the 2020 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award and a CGS-D Award for her doctoral research into fictional representations of chronic illness and gothic spaces. She is a 2022 Killam Laureate.

Amy LeBlanc's profile page

• Short-listed, Alberta Publishing Award for Trade Fiction Book of the Year

LeBlanc, winner of the 2020 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta's Emerging ArtistAward, is known for her poetry but has now made her mark in fiction with Unlocking. The book features unforgettable characters and a voice that captures the ebb and flow of heartbreak and grief. The narrative feels like a fantastic short story but with the depth of a great novel that you can?t put down.

?Heidi Klaassen, AlbertaViews