Abstract
Robert Pepper-Smith's graceful follow-up to The Wheel Keeper follows the friendship between teenagers Rose and Lacey and their search for self-confidence, acceptance, and love in a small village in south-eastern British Columbia. When Rose becomes pregnant, the childless Giacomo family, whose wealth is well-known in the community, offers to adopt the child. As Rose wrestles with the decision to give up her baby, Lacey recounts her efforts to help her friend. With gentle humour and righteous anger, she faces the destructive forces of greed and realizes her own capacity for courage and love.