I've read all of this guy's stuff, and this true story is easily his best, the structure and balance just right, pace continuous, and written as it is in the Third Person but Present Tense, doesn't just put you into the story, but into the kid herself. You become her, go through every poignant, shitty, sad, joyous day of her first 13-14 years from the inside.
But he does need a significant kick up the aorta for not pursuing a commercial publisher harder, but settling for self publishing. albeit through one of the best book printers around, giving it all the quality of the "real" thing. Whatever the hell "real" is in this day and age of book publishing. It deserves to be on more shelves, in more hands, although she is in the USA, UK, and Ireland, and in all of Aust's One-Library systems.
It's been 6-7 years since I read this the last time, and it's as fresh and new as ever, a true page-turner, I've had dead foot syndrome every morning this week following this kid's challenging childhood as the eldest of five daughters of two hopelessly dysfunctional parents.
And a footnote for aspiring writers - I'm again reading my Proof Copy, which I wasn't happy with (it was my first foray into self-publishing), as the font size was one point too big, reducing the commercial print run copies by 60 pages. And I reduced the size of the front and back cover images, and the spine, by 10%, and darkened up the background colour a touch. Made a much better presentation. So don't be afraid to be critical of your Proof, no matter how you get it done. And get someone else to proof read it too, I still found a typo in the final copy.
Okay, that's enough. Find a copy, dive in, see what you reckon.
Cheers...
T.R.E.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>