Kalyna's Song

Lori A. Dunn is an ESL teacher, instructional designer, and freelance
writer in New Westminster.

Colleen Lutzak is a likable Ukrainian-Canadian teenager who is on a
classic search for identity in this funny coming-of-age story. She is
also arrogant, uncertain, idealistic, confused about her Ukrainian
heritage, and determined to get away from home. Her quest is complicated
by her enormous musical talent, sharp intellect, and teen insecurities,
and further complicated by an overbearing mother, an influential music
teacher, a passionate friend, and her cousin, Kalyna (the Ukrainian
translation of Colleen). Kalyna is an abused wife who has suffered a
nervous breakdown and has withdrawn into an imaginary world, but Colleen
is able to pull her back to reality when she plays her music.

After failing her first attempt at university and determined to
separate herself from the pack, Colleen pursues an opportunity to study
abroad for a year at a college in Swaziland. That life-changing
experience, her friend’s suicide, and Kalyna’s unexpected death
compel her to come to terms with her life.

In Colleen, Grekul has successfully captured the essence of obnoxious
teenhood: the first kiss, the anguish of perceived slights and failures,
and the plans and intrigues that will be uncomfortably familiar to the
reader. Grekul’s style is breezy and fun, but at the same time, she
touches on the more serious themes of identity, culture, and loss, which
give Kalyna’s Song a surprising depth. This is a very fine first
novel.