ONE THING THAT'S TRUE

Adolescence and a shocking revelation temporarily pull two Calgary teenagers from their moorings in this subtle novel. Joel Jacob, 14, has been growing increasingly sullen and withdrawn at home, only in part because he (wrongly) suspects his father of having an affair. The only person who can really get through to him is his younger sister (and narrator), Roxanne, who is also feeling adrift; subject to gusts of emotion, she is unable to get Joel’s classmate, Michael, out of her thoughts, and is growing apart from friends and parents. Even her close relationship with Joel is severed when it comes out that he is adopted. Without warning, he disappears, and in the anxious period before he gets back in touch, she savagely breaks off with her best friend, Laura, for seeing Michael in her absence. Though Foggo directs only small nods toward issues of race (the Jacobs are black, Laura’s parents biracial) and harassment, her evocation in Roxanne of the profound confusion that comes from not always being able to control one’s acts and feelings will strike a chord in many readers. At crucial moments, her main characters make sound choices (several unmistakable losers are inserted into the cast for contrast); in the end, Joel comes back, Roxanne and Michael become an item, and Roxanne mends her relationship with Laura. A modest but worthy effort. (Fiction. 11-13)