In this teen issue novel set in Winnipeg and northwestern Ontario, Buffie tells the story of 16-year-old Bernice Dodd, whose alcoholic mother, Celia, has put her in a caretaking role she resents. Celia’s unreliability has left terrible scars on Bernie, her obsessive-compulsive brother, and even her cheerful little sister. When Bernie discovers that Celia has inherited a lodge near Lake of the Woods, she thinks it’s the best place for Celia to dry out and the family to acquire some financial security.

The place is a mess, however, and despite the help of good neighbours and cash raised by selling a valuable canoe, Bernie can’t overcome her pervasive distrust of her mother. Her anger touches her new love interest, her siblings, her mother, and all their friends before she’s willing to look ahead with real hope.

Despite its subject matter and the amount of sneering, snarling, and lip-curling that goes on between Bernie and her mother, this is a comfortable, involving read, likely to appeal to adolescents who enjoy Gayle Friesen’s novels. You can see its final epigram coming from a mile away (“sometimes it’s a really good idea to put down your camera and take time to see what’s going on in your own life”), and the dishy cad and the funny, reliable guy Bernie has to choose between are little more than stock figures. Even so, the story has momentum and engages interest. Its strength lies in Buffie’s exploration of the relentless anger that can exist between daughters and mothers, and in her forthright depiction of the familial side-effects of alcoholism.