In Spite of Killer Bees

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

Johnston’s fourth young-adult novel deals with families and
forgiveness. At the story’s centre are the three “orphan” Quade
sisters whose mother, Candy, had deserted them six years ago and whose
reformed criminal father, Cameron, had died three years ago. The death
of their millionaire paternal grandfather, someone they have never met,
takes Aggie, 14, Jeannie, 17, and Helen, 22, to their father’s home
community of Port Desire, Ontario. Instead of anticipated riches, the
girls only inherit their grandfather’s house, and it will only be
theirs if they can persuade their elderly, suspicious spinster
Great-Aunt Lily, another “stranger,” to live with them. In this
small community, family history intrudes into the girls’ lives.
Everyone knows the Quade family had been fractured when Cameron’s
father disowned him for marrying Candy. Additionally, their father’s
criminal reputation hampers the girls’ local employment search. Much
to Aggie’s delight, Candy suddenly resurfaces, and while Aggie’s
older sisters question their mother’s motives, Aggie believes that
they can all become a “family” again. When money is stolen from
Aggie’s school, Aggie, a criminal’s daughter, becomes the prime
suspect.

Despite the book’s large cast of major and minor characters, Johnston
makes each come alive. While she focuses more on Aggie, the other
sisters are provided with distinctive voices. Johnston’s descriptive
writing style facilitates readers’ visualizing both interior and
external settings. The meaning of the book’s unusual title is located
in Aggie’s habit of finding the potential for something bad happening
in the future and her need to move ahead despite such fears. Highly
recommended.