“A scintillating debut full of nuanced and achingly human characters.” — Zalika Reid-Benta, author of Frying Plantain
Back in the low-income neighbourhood where she was raised, a young woman rediscovers the importance of community, home, and finding one’s voice.
Just before the demolition of her childhood home in east Toronto, Delia Ellis returns to retrieve her beloved diary. Using it as a compass, she rediscovers life as a precocious teen growing up in the nineties.
Delia’s writings reveal her anxieties following a move to Don Mount Court, a Toronto government housing complex, where she struggles to navigate life with an overprotective Jamaican mother and her father’s inept replacement, “Neville the nuisance.” Delia’s troubles compound when she enlists her naive younger sister in a scheme to reunite their parents and recapture the idealistic life she yearns for.
Yet, through the lens of adulthood, Delia’s entries take a wrecking ball to the perception of her parents’ love story she’d long built up in her mind, uncovering a child’s internalization of a failed marriage, poverty, and a mother come undone.
Back in the low-income neighbourhood where she was raised, a young woman rediscovers the importance of community, home, and finding one’s voice.
Just before the demolition of her childhood home in east Toronto, Delia Ellis returns to retrieve her beloved diary. Using it as a compass, she rediscovers life as a precocious teen growing up in the nineties.
Delia’s writings reveal her anxieties following a move to Don Mount Court, a Toronto government housing complex, where she struggles to navigate life with an overprotective Jamaican mother and her father’s inept replacement, “Neville the nuisance.” Delia’s troubles compound when she enlists her naive younger sister in a scheme to reunite their parents and recapture the idealistic life she yearns for.
Yet, through the lens of adulthood, Delia’s entries take a wrecking ball to the perception of her parents’ love story she’d long built up in her mind, uncovering a child’s internalization of a failed marriage, poverty, and a mother come undone.
Authors
- Pages
- 288
- Published in
- Toronto, CA
- Rights
- Denise De Costa
Table of Contents
- Cover 1
- Half Title Page 3
- Title Page 5
- Copyright 6
- Dedication 7
- Chapter 1 Going Back 9
- Chapter 2 A Lesson in Class, Hadsworth 16
- Chapter 3 The Great Migration 28
- Chapter 4 The Parable of the Lost Town 39
- Chapter 5 A Certain Affliction 48
- Chapter 6 The Don 62
- Chapter 7 Regent 77
- Chapter 8 The Fraternal Twins 85
- Chapter 9 March of the Matriarchs 94
- Chapter 10 The Seekers 109
- Chapter 11 The Perils of the Pious 124
- Chapter 12 Awakening 143
- Chapter 13 A Parable of Hope 155
- Chapter 14 Blindsided 162
- Chapter 15 The Waning Moon 173
- Chapter 16 A Dream Deferred 190
- Chapter 17 Uninvited Guests 204
- Chapter 18 A Paradox of Hope 212
- Chapter 19 Motherhood 226
- Chapter 20 Low Tide 242
- Chapter 21 The Hummingbird 254
- Chapter 22 Nurture 261
- Chapter 23 The First Episode 270
- Chapter 24 The Last Entry 285
- Chapter 25 The Other Mother 298
- Chapter 26 The Wanderers 309
- Chapter 27 2004 317
- Chapter 28 Seeking the Lost 319
- Epilogue 330
- Acknowledgements 337
- About the Author 339
- Back Cover 340