TIN ANGEL

At 14, Ronalda Page is arrested for the murder of Louis Moss, “the man who wrecked my family.” Five years later, she pieces together the events that led to Louis’s death and her subsequent arrest and trial, and questions her own guilt and innocence. Before Louis entered Ronnie’s life in the summer of 1969, she led an idyllic childhood at Raven’s Lodge, a once-renowned vacation spot on the coast of Vancouver Island, now suffering from neglect. After her father’s fatal accident and Louis’s purchase of the debt-ridden lodge, Ronnie, her mother and older sister, Marcia, must move to a shabby apartment in the pulp-mill town of Shelter Bay. While her mother turns to alcohol and Marcia begins a questionable relationship with Louis, Ronnie’s only solace is Lee, a mysterious, young fugitive from the US. American readers, hooked by this finely woven, heart-wrenching, coming-of-age narration, will be undaunted by the concluding trial with references to Canada’s juvenile-justice system. Instead, they will be treated to revealed secrets, Ronnie’s redemption and a history of political activism that spread across borders. (timeline) (Fiction. YA)