[b:True Confessions|310146|The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle|Avi|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1200883701s/310146.jpg|997358] of a Heartless Girl was an amazingly poignant, well-written, and spare novel young adult novel. The arrival of a teenage stranger to a small town sets off a chain reaction of events that forces the towns introverted residents to reveal their deepest secrets and pains. The stranger, more troublemaker than saint, is also forced to let down her guard. She claims not to love anyone, but this turns out to be a misguided lie. ( )

A pregnant Noreen runs away form her boyfriend Warren, taking his new truck and his money. She shows up in Plimino Bay and during her brief stay touches the lives of Lynda, the reluctant inheritor of the town cafe; Doreen, whose only daughter died of cancer; and Del, a dignified older gentleman still haunted by his brother's drowning years ago. This book seems to have more appeal for adults as it is written in the third person and we are privvy to the ponderings of the adult characters.

This was a terrific book and I can't believe that the author is the same Martha Brooks as the jazz performer that I have seen many times. How does one person combine such different talents and excel at them all?

Noreen is a 17 year old who doesn't get along with her mother or her stepfather but who does have a stepsister who cares for her. However, Noreen runs away from her stepsister's home in Winnipeg with a boyfriend who then abandons her in Saskatoon. Hitching back to Winnipeg Noreen she is picked up by Wesley Cuthand, a labourer in Brandon. Wesley takes her back to Winnipeg but Noreen decides to move in with him and live in Brandon. They have some blissful times but Noreen manages to demolish that relationship. She takes Wesley's truck and drives into a small town called Pembina Lake. She parks outside of the town's only cafe and goes in for a coffee. Lynda, the owner of the cafe, is barely making ends meet but she offers Noreen a bed for the night when it is obvious she has no place to go. Lynda and the other residents of the town try to help Noreen but at every turn Noreen manages to rebuff their friendship and help. Oh yes, and she also finds out she is pregnant.

For such a small book there is a lot packed into it. Noreen's story is just part of it; almost every character has some tragedy or loss to overcome. I absolutely loved Dolores, the wise old woman who knows just how to help everyone else, but she has also suffered loss and is still grieving.

Martha Brooks was raised at the Manitoba Tuberculosis Sanatorium in Ninette Manitoba. Ninette is a small town located on Pelican Lake and I'm sure Pembina Lake is based upon Ninette. I see Brooks has written a book called Queen of Hearts which is set in a tuberculosis sanatorium. I think I am going to have to get my hands on it soon. ( )

Despite the terrible cover (I don't know why Canadian books do this- it is like they want to shoot themselves in the foot) Brooks is a well-known author in the Canadian YA scene. I had read her book Mistik Lake and had been impressed. She deals with complicated family lives, young love and growing up with nuance and subtlety as well as economical and lyrical writing.

So I was hopeful about True Confessions. Did it live up to my expectations?

Expectations are always traitorous things. Though it did not, I suspect it wasn't as much the book as it was me. True Confessions follows the contrail of destruction of young Noreen. Pregnant, alone and having stolen her boyfriend's truck and money, she ends up in Pembina Lake. There she is taken in by Lynda, the owner of the local cafe. Lynda herself is broken, having run away from her abusive husband and her life as a teacher a couple of years before. They are watched over by Dolores, an elderly lady who works part-time at the cafe and is herself dealing with the loss of her adult daughter the year before. Although Noreen screws up at every turn, she is able to find redemption through the unconditional kindness of these women. And in the end, Lynda and Dolores find redemption by discovering their own strength and capacity to love.

I liked it , but not more than that. It took me a moment to figure out who we were following at the beginning- the first two paragraphs of chapter one follow Dolores then changed without warning to Lynda at the cafe. I am not sure why, but the book fell a little flat for me. Dolores too wise, Lynda too broken, Noreen to selfish and angry. It was a novel of toos. However Noreen's constant screwing up as well as her gradual ascent from the abyss of selfishness she had been wallowing in was well done. In the end it is a hopeful novel, one with no pat endings, or loose ends tied up, but hopeful. ( )

Reviewed in CM magazine; October, 2002.

http://www.umanitoba.ca/outreach/cm/vol9/no3/trueconfessions.html