Allison Baggio | Girl in Shades (ECW Press)

23.02.12

Is decently written and at times original, it is often unsatisfying and ultimately frustrating. Main character Maya Devine, 11 years old when we meet her, is dealing with her mother Marigold’s cancer; Mom, for her part, has taken refuge in a tent in the backyard, where, refusing treatment, she slowly wastes away. Maya is an intuitive girl, often hearing people’s thoughts or seeing the auras around their bodies. She is, as proper to the story, an outsider; she has few friends and is often teased at school. An unlikely friendship—and, later, relationship—springs up between her and Elijah, a neighbor boy whose mother takes particular interest in Maya’s mother.

Through a process of exploration, spurred by Maya’s discovery of her mother’s diaries, the girl begins to uncover a shocking family history. At the same time, her father has decamped to his new girlfriend’s house, leaving the young girl to live alone and fend for herself. Maya begins to skip school—so much so that the reader is left wondering why (a) there are no real repercussions and (b) how on earth she didn’t have to repeat a grade or two. Disbelief begins to creep into the novel, and only continues the further we read.

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