Poor, poor Francie. This book is a heartbreaker, especially if you know and love kids (and adults!) in a chaotic home life situation. The novel is incredibly character-driven -- this is not a thriller -- but Snyder's writing had me very invested in those characters from the start. I imagine this could be an uncomfortable read for many, but for me, it was worth the heartbreak to learn more about Francie and her family.

This is a difficult book to review as I'm reading an advance copy and the issues I have may be cleaned up in the final book. There are two separate time lines and multiple points of view which I generally like, but I often found it hard to figure out the timeline and / or the particular character. Maybe I missed visual clues because I was reading an epdf or maybe there were no clues and the reader is supposed to struggle. I expect this book will, at the very least, make the longlists for the big Canadian awards. And be forewarned, your heart will break for Francie.