Janey's Girl

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Ever since Claire arrived in the town of Smallwood, British Columbia,
people have been calling her “Janey’s Girl.” Janey is Claire’s
mother, a real-estate broker/yuppie-from-Hell who ran away from
Smallwood when she was 17 after she discovered she was pregnant with
Claire. Now, Claire is almost 15 and she wants some answers about her
father, but every time she asks her mother or grandmother, they
immediately change the subject. The most frustrating thing for Claire is
that everyone in Smallwood seems to know more about her than she does.
When Claire finally gets her answers, she discovers that they come with
a set of complications she never dreamed of.

Imagine a novel that is funny, intelligent, moving, and beautiful.
Those four words describe this wonderful book about people who have
learned to live within their own brittle shells of half-truths until
fate forces them to confront reality and move on with their lives.
Friesen has a well-developed ear for nuance and narrative. The one
jarring note is that every major character seems to have mastered the
one-liner comeback. This gives some of the dialogue the tone of a TV
sitcom—like being caught in a crossfire between a couple of Groucho
impersonators. Fortunately, all the one-liners are funny, so perhaps it
is wrong to fault a writer for just being good at what she does. Highly
recommended.