Walking into a small-town ice cream parlour in the middle of a hold-up, 49-year-old Isla is shot and ultimately paralyzed from the waist down. The shooter, 17-year-old Roddy, takes off in a panic but is soon caught by police. As Isla struggles to come to terms with the senseless accident, she begins meticulously reflecting on the course of her adult life leading up to that one critical moment. Roddy, awaiting trial, reflects on his own past, and the shooting that has potentially destroyed both Isla’s life and his own. In the midst of their painful journeys comes Alix, Isla’s daughter, who may lead the pair toward some form of healing.

Critical Injuries, Joan Barfoot’s eighth novel, is a finely crafted fiction, perfectly paced to entice the reader into the depths of the wrenching morass that Isla and Roddy find themselves facing. The subtle narrative follows first Isla, then Roddy, back and forth in a simple dance that gently guides the reader through tough emotional terrain. But Barfoot doesn’t hold back from inflicting some bruising punches.

Isla’s story is certainly the more powerful of the two, particularly the harrowing snapshot Barfoot gives of the breakdown of her first marriage. But Barfoot is to be particularly commended for her nuanced portrait of Roddy, who, in spite of his criminal tendencies, is never alienated from the reader. It would have been easy to try to explain away his crime by portraying him as a victim of a particularly heinous childhood. Instead Barfoot gives his life depth and resonance – a remarkable achievement in a novel that is full of surprises.