Adam and Eve and Pinch-Me

'I can blank out people. Wipe them right off the board. Paint over them. Close the book on them. Click, erase, gone. It's me I'm having trouble escaping.' As she approaches her 16th birthday Sara is in yet another foster home in a remote part of Ontario with the garrulous Ma and monosyllabic Hud and their other two foster kids. She has learnt from bitter experience not to relate to anyone and looks forward to turning 16 when she will be free to head up north where all is cold and white and where she can be alone and write. Through the entries in her word-processed diary, we see her slowly thaw in the warmth of the Huddlestone home and share her anguish as her birth mother finally tracks her down. The author has a particularly fine ear for dialogue and the conversations between the eccentric regulars at the Elite Cafe where Sara takes a job are a treat. A rich and rewarding read.