Kay Darling

June M. Blurton is a retired speech pathologist.

On one level, this is a light, frothy, funny novel. The characters are
Canadian, mostly young adults involved in the entertainment industry.
They are gay and straight; friends, acquaintances, and enemies; and they
walk the familiar streets of downtown Toronto. They party, change jobs
and partners, complain, are in and out of work. They are very cool, but
there is desperation just below the surface.

Like people of their generation anywhere in the Western world, they are
facing a change. The old aspirations for a job, house, and family are no
longer satisfying or the thing to do. There are now choices, and trying
to decide what they should or should not do with their lives is painful
and enervating for many of them.

Much of the story is told through the medium of letters and dialogue in
1990s slang. This is a successful device, moving the action forward
smoothly, with one exception. At least twice there are chapters written
in a style that is completely different from that of the preceding
chapters. Despite this, Kay Darling is an amusing and vibrant piece of
writing and a very creditable first novel.