"Through a first-person narration, readers view a nameless nine-year-old girl and see how she and her dysfunctional family cope with the accidental death of her brother. YAs will sense the grinding poverty present in the farmhouse and realize that these people's lives are very grim. The book contains adult themes such as drunkenness, mental illness, physical spousal abuse, and incest between two children. This is not a happy story as it recounts the tribulations of one year in the lives of a rural Canadian family, but it is an honest one."

Very sad book, but also very well written.

Share/Like this Review?