The acclaimed poet’s prize-winning bestseller—a tender, unsparing portrait of a family and a place

“The Governor General’s Award–winning poet’s vivid narrative about her upbringing in Swift Current, Sask. Her father, Emerson, was an alcoholic, and we come to know the shame she experienced living with poverty and addiction. Her mother, Peggy, was a tough proud woman who never wasted a potato and who loved her daughter fiercely, if quietly. This is a fast read, due in great part to Crozier’s superb ability to tell a story simply and from the gut.” National Post

“With her poet’s eye, Crozier lays out the taste and smell and feel of her childhood… Her memoir is a tender reflection of her youth, and we are left with prairie visions dancing in our heads.” Chronicle Herald

“Her poetic gift gives her prose a wonderful edge and clarity.” Winnipeg Free Press

• Winner of the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize