Out of Focus

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.

Many of Buffie’s previous eight young-adult novels incorporated
fantasy elements, but this one remains rooted in stark reality.

An amateur photographer, Bernice “Bernie” Dodd, 16, finds her life
completely out of focus. For the last four years, she has been the
surrogate mother to her siblings—Ally, 10, and toddler Jojo—because
Celia, their mother, is a binge alcoholic who disappears for periods of
time. Celia’s drinking began during her failed marriage to Bernie and
Ally’s father, a photographer, and it intensified after the trio was
deserted by an actor who fathered Jojo. Decision day for Bernie occurs
when Celia ends four months of sobriety while precipitously cancelling
her wedding to a kind-hearted man who had offered the family some
stability. Tired of their transient life and her mother’s promises to
quit drinking, Bernie, wielding the threat of going to Family Services,
demands that the family move from Winnipeg to a tourist lodge in
northwestern Ontario, the property having been left to Celia by an aunt.


Most of the book’s action occurs at the lodge, which requires
significant renovation if it is to provide an income for the family.
Bernie steadfastly doubts that her mother can change, especially when
Celia’s apparent new drinking partner is a local gigolo, on whom
Bernie also develops an adolescent crush. Among Buffie’s many writing
strengths is her ability in creating characterization, and this book has
a strong cast of supporting characters. Readers will undoubtedly be
surprised by how the book’s happenings come to modify their initial
support of Bernie. Highly recommended.