The Last Chance Café

Helen Hacksel is a Toronto-based freelance writer.

These short stories, set in Vancouver, chronicle the life of Anna, from
age 9 into her late 20s. She is the third of six children, all girls,
who live in a “harem-like atmosphere,” packed into two bedrooms
behind the café of the title. Theirs is a haphazard, uncertain life
ruled by a violent father; an ineffective mother hovers on the
sidelines.

To avoid her father’s rages, Anna learns to lie, flatter, and
acquiesce. By age 16 she is pregnant; no sooner has she extricated
herself from an abusive relationship with the child’s father than she
is exploited in a brutal way by his friend. In the final story, Anna
observes that she is “the aftermath of [her] childhood” and that no
amount of healing will stop her from cowering at “a raised fist or a
showing of teeth.”

The author’s simple, almost childlike style of writing suits the
subject matter well. Intimate physical details are revealed with
disarming—sometimes shocking—candor. Mia Trembley has illustrated
the stories with whimsical drawings of nude female figures.

Anita Roberts is the coordinator of an assault-prevention program for
teenagers in Vancouver, B.C. It may be her personal commitment that
gives these stories their freshness and ring of authenticity.