Baygirl

This is one of the most touching , funny, and poignant coming of age stories I've read in a quite some time. Kit hasn't had an easy childhood, her father is an AWFUL drunk, he screams, yells, breaks things and has never provided a warm and loving life for Kit or her mother. When a two year ban on fishing is imposed, her father loses her job and Kit and her family are forced to move out of beautiful idyllic Parson's Bay into the city with her uncle. She has to leave behind her beloved Nan, her best friend, and her mentor.

Once in the city Kit has a hard time adjusting, she can't afford new clothes and must go to school looking like a bumpkin, in no time at all the kids are calling her "baygirl." As if that weren't bad enough her unemployed father starts drinking even more and gets her mother fired from her part time job by showing up drunk to her work. With nowhere to hide, Kit starts to visit the crazy old British neighbor next door, Reginald, and befriend him. Slowly things start to get better, she gets a friend, a wonderful boyfriend who writes her poetry, and her uncle starts to make an effort at getting out of his depression. But throughout all this her father never puts down the bottle. What will it take him to quit? How can she love a man that she has no respect for?

The story takes a dramatic twist at the end, but it doesn't leave you wanting. It's a truly marvelous book that
address issues such as: alcoholism, friendship, redemption, and above all forgiveness. A great debut young adult novel by Heather Smith, I eagerly await reading her future writing endeavors.