In her first work of adult fiction Governor Generals Awardwinning author Julie Johnston contemplates the meaning of life through Val Hudson a woman approaching fifty whose world is threatened by the death of her husband.Val Hudson senior editor at Dobbs Kendall a fledgling publishing company threatened with closure by its corporate owners finds that the life she once knew has suddenly come to an end when her husband of eleven years dies tragically in a car accident that she believes she could have prevented. Struggling with guilt and grief she searches her past for meaning and soon uncovers her husbands secret life. Enter Gus an actor and screenwriter by trade who bases his second novel on Vals tragic story after reading about it in a local newspaper. Gus too becomes mired in the past and memories of an idiot-savant brother and an overbearing mother flood his waking life. Julie Johnston skillfully weaves together the lives of two people touched by tragedy through a coincidental series of circumstance and serendipity. As If By Accident is an impressive debut novel written with gentle wit and grace from a masterful storyteller.