A broken heart, that old phrase; I didn’t realize it would feel like a plate breaking in the middle of your chest. Bessie Smith Connolly has lived with her Nova Scotia grandparents since she was small. But at seventeen--grieving the death of her steadfast grandfather, smarting from a split with the boy she loves--she escapes to Saskatoon to be with her mother, Isabel. Bittersweet, clear-eyed, and deeply affecting, this marvellous debut novel charts Bessie’s course as she makes her way through her exploded family and out into the world.