Split

Deborah Dowson is a Canadian children’s librarian living in Harvard,
Massachusetts.

Sandra doesn’t bother to attend her high-school graduation because
there would be no one in the audience to watch her graduate. Her mother
moved out without leaving a trace and her father is often drunk and
depressed. Alone and vulnerable to abuse from the men in her life,
Sandra is desperate to find her mother. The routine of a job cleaning
hotel rooms and the hope of finding her mother keeps her going through
this difficult time. Her search leads her to a greater understanding of
her parents and their history and motivations. Things improve somewhat
when her father goes back to work, and there is hope when Sandra finally
does contact her mother that forgiveness and a continuing relationship
is a possibility.

The themes of entrapment and escape are played out in this
working-class world set in Montreal. It is a bleak scene, where
hopelessness, depression, and the threat of danger are facts of everyday
life. The author describes this world with unflinching realism to create
a completely compelling story. The lack of hope experienced by many of
the working-class poor in this novel is depressing and frustrating, yet
the story offers the possibility that freedom and happiness can be
reached through communication and compassion. This is a tough, psycho-
logical teen novel that offers insight into the isolation that poverty
and the breakdown of the family can bring. Recommended.