Annabel

Kathleen Winter's luminous debut novel is a deeply affecting portrait of life in an enchanting seaside town and the trials of growing up unique in a restrictive environment.

In 1968, into the devastating, spare atmosphere of the remote coastal town of Labrador, Canada, a child is born: a baby who appears to be neither fully boy nor fully girl, but both at once. Only three people are privy to the secret--the baby's parents, Jacinta and Treadway, and a trusted neighbor and midwife, Thomasina. Though Treadway makes the difficult decision to raise the child as a boy named Wayne, the women continue to quietly nurture the boy's female side. And as Wayne grows into adulthood within the hyper-masculine hunting society of his father, his shadow-self, a girl he thinks of as "Annabel," is never entirely extinguished.

Kathleen Winter has crafted a literary gem about the urge to unveil mysterious truth in a culture that shuns contradiction, and the body's insistence on coming home. A daringly unusual debut full of unforgettable beauty, Annabel introduces a remarkable new voice to American readers.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Grove Press, Black Cat
Published: 01/04/2011
ISBN: 9780802170828
Pages: 480
Weight: 1.00lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.60w x 1.60d
Award: Scotiabank Giller Prize - Finalist
Award: Governor General's Literary Awards - Finalist

Review Citations: New Yorker (The) 03/07/2011 pg. 83
Library Journal Prepub Alert 09/01/2010 pg. 88
Publishers Weekly 09/20/2010
Booklist 10/15/2010 pg. 28
Kirkus Reviews 11/01/2010
Library Journal 12/01/2010 pg. 109
New York Times Book Review 01/05/2011 pg. 12
New York Times Book Review 01/16/2011 pg. 18
Kirkus Best Books 11/15/2011 pg. 2067
Quill & Quire Books of the Yr 12/01/2010 pg. 24