Hosea Funk, the mayor of a small Canadian town, is obsessed with obtaining the perfect population number in the hope of meeting the prime minister. He drags Knute along as he checks on births and deaths, making this a humourous tale.

I saw a comment at my local library that someone thought this was Toews’ worst novel. I think it’s her best. Her other novels are depressing tales — this one had me laughing.

• Canadian 5 out of 5s