This was a really well written novel by a local Toronto author. Set on three streets in Scarborough in the 1970s it reads more like a series of connected short stories than an actual novel.
Many of the stories are written from the perspective of June, an adolescent Chinese-Canadian from Hong Kong. Through her eyes we first learn of the tragic summer when three adults in the neighbourhood die by suicide. We then learn the secrets of her other neighbours and friends - and everyone seems to be hiding something, whether it's abuse, extramarital affairs, infertility, or kleptomania.
The characters are all surprisingly well developed given how few pages some of them receive. You get a real picture of suburban life in a middle class neighbourhood of immigrants from around the globe in the 1970s.
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