At first glance, This Side of the Sky (originally Le ciel tombe à côté, a 2003 Mr. Christie’s Award-winner and GG nominee) looks like an “issues” novel, with its themes of child abuse, racism, and low self-esteem. Yet at its core, it’s a romantic book in the 19th-century sense, recalling poets who sought transcendence through their art.

Mona, the adolescent narrator, lives in a rural area of Quebec with two unhappy parents who resent her and her little sister, Angélique. Angélique, who prefers to be called Bird, is a developmentally challenged eight-year-old who climbs trees compulsively, hoping to merge with the sky. Mona is more grounded, but glimpses freedom occasionally through poetry. When the two girls witness an act of sexual abuse from their perch on a tree branch one afternoon, Mona swears Bird to silence, having lost faith in adults and the idea of justice. The secret festers, leaking more misery into the community until the final crisis of the novel, a suspenseful episode that ends with a reconciliation of sorts between its earth- and skybound perspectives.

In addition to the 20 books she has written for young people, Marie-Francine Hébert has written a number of screenplays for television and film. Skilled in the art of illusion, Hébert creates a strong feeling of fragmentation in this novel, while maintaining a tight, unified structure. The translation, by Calgary-based writer Susan Ouriou, is sensitive and subtle, telling the story in natural-sounding, colloquial English without sacrificing its otherworldly sensibility. I would recommend this book for readers at least 15 years of age.