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From Amazon
In this novel set in the BC interior town of Sawmill Creek, 17-year-old Harper is experiencing the pains and thrills of her first leap into the adult world. The coming-of-age story pans back and forth between Harper's eventful experiences and the difficult childhood of her new boyfriend, Gabe, who grew up in California and on a hippie "art farm" near Sawmill Creek, where he has returned. Harper is drawn to the farm, away from the house she shares with her little brother and her long-suffering mother, Vera, and she joins Gabe there, much to the chagrin, if not horror, of her mother's fellow churchgoers, especially the insidious Pastor John. Pressures from all sides add to Harper's well-drawn confusion. Although the story is needlessly complicated by scenes from Vera's earlier life as a farm girl set adrift by the freedoms of the Sixties, the energetic writing flows like a B.C. river, fast and full. As the seasons try to change from winter to spring under fickle skies, Harper too is trying to be born into a new type of life. But there are many obstacles lurking: adolescent angst and the thick, sweet smoke of the Sixties permeate this novel, as well as the spirit of lost illusions, on both personal and social levels. --Mark Frutkin
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