Dolores Harper, the local wise woman, shows up sporting her "Meddling for Jesus" sweatshirt, ready to help the new girl open up. Lynda herself has escaped an abusive relationship and is raising her three-year-old son Seth on her own, while managing to run the cafe. And thus she unwittingly unleashes a storm the likes of which the denizens of this small town have never seen. Against her better judgement, Lynda (the operator of the local cafe) takes Noreen in and gives her a job.
World-weary at 17, pregnant and on the run from her boyfriend Wesley (the first kind boy she's ever been with), Noreen steals his truck and his cash and winds up broke and alone in a small farming town not far from Brandon. Set in present-day Manitoba, the story follows self-proclaimed heartless girl Noreen. One thing is for sure-I fell irretrievably into Martha Brooks' clear, evocative prose. None of our local bookstores had it in, but my library did (bless them) so I picked it up on my way home from work and read it later that night as my husband snored gently beside me.
HEARTLESS GIRL was the winner of the 2002 Governor General's Literary Award and if this is any indication of the quality of the winners of that award, I will be paying attention to future winners and nominations. I'm mystified as to why we seem to rarely get wind of some of these gems from our northern neighbors. But I remember that the fact that it was set in Canada and written by a Canadian was part of the draw.
I can't even remember now how I first heard about TRUE CONFESSIONS OF A HEARTLESS GIRL. At the time I thought it had been published just recently, but I realized later it was originally published in Canada in 2002 and then a little over a year later in the U.S.
A little over two years ago I came across this book.
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