Count On Me - a novel about love and money colliding
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Count On Me exposes how a family can fracture when aging parents grow frail and debts from the past resurface.
While shining a much-needed light on the financial abuse of elders, this novel also explores, with hope and humour, what it takes to break cycles across generations, and how human relationships can rise above the transactional. Tia is raising a baby when her older brother gradually takes over their ailing parents' bank account, house, and medical decisions. As Tia uncovers the harm to her parents and tries to set things straight, she confronts how love and money were entangled in her family, and whether her own mothering now goes to opposite extremes. “Nuanced, intelligent, and propulsively readable” -- Susan Olding, author of Big Reader “ A paean to sandwich-generation parents everywhere striving to end cycles of intergenerational trauma.” -- Farzana Doctor, author of The Beauty of Us and Seven A Spaniel's Tale bookstore 2025 "Fiction Favourite" |
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“Love is a form of paying attention,” she astutely observes in the final chapter. If this is true, then there’s no lack of it in Cavlovic’s heartfelt, often humorous novel. Count on Me is a close, compassionate study of one courageous woman’s determination to review, and rise above, her conditioning. Pulsating with thoughtful insights, it invites readers to consider how ending negative generational patterns within families might impact our world."
- Montreal Review of Books
Further Praise for Count On Me
“It’s hard to believe this novel is a debut, because it reads like a mature work... This is an important novel with rich content that deserves discussion in college courses, book clubs, playgroups, and families." MER Literary
"It depicts in persuasive terms one family’s struggle to find a balance between love and money, a struggle that, as Ann Cavlovic shows us, leaves everyone poorer." - The Seaboard Review
"This novel is not only well-written, but insightful and important as the world faces enormous challenges that are affecting children daily".... Shirley Hay Book Reviews
"This story - the writing and the character of Tia - gripped me immediately. I was emotionally drawn in and couldn’t put the book down. It was emotionally layered, heartfelt and deeply relatable. " - WhatIThinkAboutThisBook
"One of the novel’s strengths lies in its capacity to weave connections between familial conflicts and environmental concerns. ... Cavlovic’s debut novel provides a thoughtful perspective on the possibilities for overburdened mothers to shape a better world, placing attention on the urgent question of 'how to raise children so that fascism could never again take hold.'” - Heavy Feather Review
"... the book has enough lightness and humour to make the plot still enjoyable as you watch Tia struggle and ultimately get legal and personal assistance to counteract her brother’s attempt to grab everything including the house." - Ramblings on my Bookshelves (UK)
"a clear-eyed account of how elder abuse can unfold quietly, under the guise of care, and how devastating it can be to witness it from the margins. The reward for the patient reader is substantial." - Ottawa Review of Books
"...a compelling look at the sandwich generation...Count on Me is a story about inheritance, for better or for worse, and the limits of accounting and transactionality. It's thoughtful and considered." - 49th Shelf
“It’s hard to believe this novel is a debut, because it reads like a mature work... This is an important novel with rich content that deserves discussion in college courses, book clubs, playgroups, and families." MER Literary
"It depicts in persuasive terms one family’s struggle to find a balance between love and money, a struggle that, as Ann Cavlovic shows us, leaves everyone poorer." - The Seaboard Review
"This novel is not only well-written, but insightful and important as the world faces enormous challenges that are affecting children daily".... Shirley Hay Book Reviews
"This story - the writing and the character of Tia - gripped me immediately. I was emotionally drawn in and couldn’t put the book down. It was emotionally layered, heartfelt and deeply relatable. " - WhatIThinkAboutThisBook
"One of the novel’s strengths lies in its capacity to weave connections between familial conflicts and environmental concerns. ... Cavlovic’s debut novel provides a thoughtful perspective on the possibilities for overburdened mothers to shape a better world, placing attention on the urgent question of 'how to raise children so that fascism could never again take hold.'” - Heavy Feather Review
"... the book has enough lightness and humour to make the plot still enjoyable as you watch Tia struggle and ultimately get legal and personal assistance to counteract her brother’s attempt to grab everything including the house." - Ramblings on my Bookshelves (UK)
"a clear-eyed account of how elder abuse can unfold quietly, under the guise of care, and how devastating it can be to witness it from the margins. The reward for the patient reader is substantial." - Ottawa Review of Books
"...a compelling look at the sandwich generation...Count on Me is a story about inheritance, for better or for worse, and the limits of accounting and transactionality. It's thoughtful and considered." - 49th Shelf
@anncavlovic.bsky.social
ann[AtThingy]anncavlovic.com
ann[AtThingy]anncavlovic.com
