Big Dig

Description

Just as fourteen-year-old Lucy is starting to figure out life after her mom's death, her dad ships her off to Cape John, her mom's hometown, for the summer. Worse, she has to live with her nutty great-aunt Josie, who doesn't cook edible food or suffer fools. Soon Lucy meets Colin, freshly moved from the West Coast, who's digging an enormous hole in his new yard. He spends every day digging deeper in protest of his family's unilateral decision to move to this tiny oceanside community. As Colin digs in the ground, Lucy digs through her family's history, and eventually both of them uncover a shocking truth. The Big Dig asks big questions of its readers: Are secrets ever okay? What defines a family? And can we ever really know our parents? Lisa Harrington's light and funny voice blends seamlessly with Lucy's grief, creating an authentic and riveting emotional landscape.

Lisa Harrington's novels include 2018's The Goodbye Girls, Twisted, shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association's YA Book of the year, Live to Tell, winner of the White Pine, Ann Connor Brimer, and SYRCA Snow Willow Awards, and Rattled, published in 2010 to critical praise. Her work has also appeared in A Maritime Christmas. Lisa lives in Halifax with her family and puppy, Hermione. Visit Lisa online at lisaharrington.ca.

The Big Dig is about losing a parent and losing family, but not just through death. It's about losing the idea of who someone was to the reality of their actions and coming to terms with the new truth. It's about the definition of family, whether biological or chosen, and how our choices can have ripples that affect generations. This book will appeal to a wide range of youth (and adults too!), especially those who prefer realistic stories and more mature emotional themes. --Canadian Review of Materials (Winnipeg, MB) The Big Dig should be part of every secondary school (middle or high) as well as public library collections. --Resource Links (Pouch Cove, NF)