In her new book, Gina McMurchy-Barber writes about one of the bleaker facets of Canada’s history: the institutional mistreatment of people with disabilities. Free as a Bird chronicles the life of Ruby Jean Sharp, an eight-year-old who must live at Woodlands School (a real B.C. institution that operated from 1878 to 1996) because she has Down’s syndrome. Ruby Jean narrates her own life story from the death of her childhood caregiver to her adult attempt to leave Woodlands forever.

First-person narratives often bring up questions of reliability, but the issue with Ruby Jean’s narration is restrictiveness. Here, the narrator’s diminished mental capacity ultimately impedes plot development. The minutiae of Ruby Jean’s day-to-day life is at the forefront of the action, and while this is surprisingly captivating, it does not generate suspense, intrigue, or any of the other reader responses integral to plot propulsion.

But a lack of a propulsive plot does not necessarily mean a lack of literary merit. While reading 184 pages of Ruby Jean’s broken, childlike English may sound like a chore, her speech pattern is easily digested and not at all distracting. (“I never learnt much bout ledders and numbers, an I sure never got to go home. Nope, only stayed at Woodlands all day an all night.”) The details of institutional life are wholly engrossing, though frequently painful. Ruby Jean’s interactions with other residents, her helplessness at the hands of her abusive caretakers, and her efforts to integrate into society feel entirely authentic. (McMurchy-Barber says in her Author’s Note that she worked at Woodlands, and had a sister with Down’s syndrome.)

Given the emphasis on the story’s factual underpinnings, Free as a Bird comes very close to sounding like narrative non-fiction. It may be hard to categorize, but the book is worth the effort: Ruby Jean’s perspective offers a raw, rare glimpse into how Canada’s most vulnerable citizens were treated only a short time ago.