The Half of It

Finished April 6

The Half of It by Juliette Fay

This novel is centered on fifty-eight-year-old Helen Spencer. Helen is the mother of three adult children, Barb, Sam, and Danny, and the grandmother of one. Before the pandemic hit, Helen's mother Annabella Iannucci had come to live with her family in North Carolina, but she died a few years after the move. When Helen's husband Jim died suddenly shortly afterward, Helen learned his secrets as well. 

The story starts in the present with an unexpected encounter with a man, Cal Crosby, from Helen's past. It then jumps back to Helen's girlhood where she joined track as a way to use the energy she had within her. We see her friendship with Francie Hydecker, a girl who went her own way, a way that included horses and ceramics. And we see the friendship that developed between teenage Helen and Cal. 

As the book moves back and forth between the present, where Helen is very involved in her daughter Barb's life, and Cal has also taken on a caregiving role with his young grandchildren, we learn what led to the rift between them, as well as what led to other rifts in Helen's life. 

As Helen begins to build a new life in Massachusetts, where she's moved to join Barb's family, she also reconnects with her past and must make choices that lead to new beginnings and new friendships.

Although it covers a lot of time, this book moves at a fairly quick pace, and the characters make the book come to life. This is a story of love, of regrets, and of hope.  

Restless

Finished July 5
Restless: A Ghost's Story by Rich Wallace

As the title indicates, this story is told by a ghost. The story takes place in the town of Sturbridge, Pennsylvania, and the central character here is Herbie, a 17-year-old entering his senior year of high school. Up to now, Herbie played soccer, but the new coach doesn't appeal to him, and when he quits the team, the coach slings an insult at him that he couldn't make footfall or the cross-country team, so Herbie decides to do both. There are no rules against it, but it hasn't been done before, and meeting the challenges of both will require a lot of work on Herbie's end. As the year begins, one of his regular runs is through the cemetery, and Herbie's energy draws the attention of a ghost who hasn't been able to move on, Eamon Connelly, a young man who died in 1888, while trying to scale a cliff just below the cemetery late one night. But Eamon isn't the narrator of this story, although he does have a central role.
The narrator is Herbie's brother Frank, who died years ago when he was 17 of lymphatic cancer. Frank hasn't been able to move on either. He also hasn't been able to make himself felt in any way to Herbie, except in Herbie's dreams, even though he spends almost all his time with him.  But things seem to be changing. Herbie actually sees Eamon's ghost that night when he runs, and he begins to wonder, about energy, about life after death, about ghosts, and about many other things.
A couple of years back, Herbie's parents separated and he moves back and forth between them. This is definitely better than when they were together, arguing so much.
As he continues to work hard at school, at his sports, and as he meets a girl that seems to like him as much as he likes her, his interest in his brother and in the ghost he continues to encounter lead him to think hard. But he's not the only one. Frank is also entertaining some ideas that he never considered before, and that just might change everything.
A wonderful story of the need to prove oneself, of the idea of possibilities beyond what has been proven. A story that I truly enjoyed.

Prisoner of Warren

Finished January 31
Prisoner of Warren by Andreas Oertel

This children's novel is set in the summer of 1944 in rural New Brunswick. Thirteen-year-old Warren Webb is upset that his parents have decided to take on a German prisoner of war (POW) as a worker on their farm. He and his best friend Tom and determined that they must defend themselves from this threat and kill him before he kills them.
But then Warren meets Martin, the young man who speaks good English, works hard, and takes the time to explain things to Warren. With Martin sleeping in the same room as Warren, and the two tasked with all the work needed to bring indoor plumbing to the Webb home, they learn a lot about each other. When Warren finds that Martin, like himself, is a sprinter, the connection becomes stronger.
Three older boys, known for their bullying behaviour make Warren and Martin targets after they come to the assistance of two local girls. The ensuing conflict will have Warren drawing on skills within himself that he never realized he had.
Warren also misses his older brother Pete, who died from polio, and talks to him whenever he wants advice. This provides a sounding board and source of humour for Warren at times of indecision.
This is a book that deals with the issues of war, the propaganda that is built around it, bullying, and friendship.

For another book written for youth on POWs in Canada, see Uncertain Soldier by Karen Bass.

Girl Runner

Finished January 14
Girl Runner by Carrie Snyder

This novel is centered around Aganetha Smart, a woman now in her second century and living in a long term care home. When she was young, she won gold for Canada in the 800 metre race in the 1928 Olympics.
The novel was inspired by real events. It was a German woman who won the race in that year's Olympics and the officials determined that women were not physically suited for races beyond 200 metres and it wasn't until 1960 that women could again compete in the 800.
Aganetha grew up with her sisters on a farm, the youngest in a family of sisters as well as older step-sisters and step-brothers. Aganetha's mother was a midwife, a woman that also took pity on young women caught in difficult circumstances and offered them an alternative.
Once she finishes school, Aganetha joined her sister Olive and half-brother George in Toronto, finding work in a factory. She gets notices by a sponsor of women's athletics and gets the opportunity to train with other promising young women athletes and a more pleasant factory job.
Aganetha is befriended by a young woman already showing promise in this area, and with the advantages of a wealthy background and the two become very close.
In this novel, Aganetha is taken out of the long term care home where she now lives by two young people and spirited back to her past, As the present day events take Aganetha back, we find the story spun out in both times, what the young people are asking of her, and what she remembers from her youth.
This is a story of determination, of a life chosen, and of a young girl influenced by others more worldly than her. Fascinating and engrossing, I cared for Aganetha and felt for her as she struggled through her life.