The Darkhouse by Barbara Radecki

I always pictured living on an island to be a sun-filled paradise and a peaceful existence but for teenager Gemma, it is a solitary existence. Never having left the Canadian island she lives on, Gemma has been sheltered and isolated her whole life and is naïve to the real world. Her sheltered existence is beautifully explained and some parts seem wonderful and some just lonely. She spends her days with older residents of the island while her father, Jonah, either works on his experiments at home or is at his job as the ferry captain.

The only family she has around is a cold-hearted father who does not speak that much to her and keeps her from ever venturing outside of the island. All that she has ever heard or known about her mother is that she left Jonah and Gemma and that she is crazy and she cannot find out any details of where her mother is. Her father only explains that she was once beautiful but he does not like recalling Gemma’s mother because it makes him sick and angry. Where is her mother? Why does she stay away? What is her father hiding?

One day, a mysterious stranger, Marlie, arrives on the island and gets acquainted with Gemma. Little does she know, this strange woman is about to completely change everything in Gemma’s life. Marlie’s arrival brings events that ultimately reveal Jonah’s secrets and his past. When Gemma finds out the truth, she decides to venture out on her own and figure out all the details of her mother and what she wants in her life, which leads to an exciting and unexpected ending. This story keeps you in suspense and eager for a resolution.

For fans of psychological thrillers, drama, and mystery, check out The Darkhouse from the teen room!

-Lauren

Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Kathleen Winter’s novel, Annabel, explores the physical, emotional, and social ramifications of what is a rare and seldom-discussed circumstance.  Set in a rural, rustic outpost of Canada’s Labrador province, the novel opens in 1968 with the birth of Treadway’s and Jacinta’s first child.  Attended by a midwife and two close friends, the delivery is a smooth one, but upon laying the infant upon its mother’s breast, midwife Thomasina notices something peculiar. Beneath the child’s small penis and single testicle lies a vaginal opening.  Far from sensationalizing the intersexed phenomena, Winter’s tale draws the reader more towards empathy than fascination or shock.  When Jacinta is torn between establishing normalcy for her infant via a surgery to correct ambiguous genitalia (all factual and standardized in real-life cases of intersex births), and the desire to let her child, both son and daughter, develop unmarred, the reader is compelled to imagine what his or her own decision would be.  The story progresses beautifully as Wayne (so named after the “corrective” intervention) grows and struggles with a duality he doesn’t understand. Fearing societal reaction Treadway and Jacinta never reveal the true nature of their child to anyone, not even Wayne himself.  Perhaps they would have continued to remain silent, but at age 14 Wayne develops strange symptoms and requires medical intervention.  Thomasina, returned after having spent several years abroad, then reveals to Wayne the reason for the pains in his abdomen, his “unnatural” budding breasts, and the daily medication (explained to Wayne as necessary for treating a blood disorder) he has taken since he was an infant. Readers have no choice but to sympathize with Wayne and struggle to wrap their minds around what would be a baffling and life-changing revelation (Wayne’s medical intervention at 14 revealed yet another stunning secret).  If I read another novel only half as well-written as Annabel this month, I will consider myself very fortunate.