The Girl Without Anyone by Kelli Deeth (HarperFlamingo Canada) has a lot of blue on the cover (at least on the advance reading copy). Inside is a series of linked short stories told by Leah, a teenaged girl who is coping with her budding sexuality and her feelings of not belonging, in the midst of her parents’ separation. Thirty years ago I felt just like Leah and her stories brought it all back: the self-doubt, the confusion, the lack of perspective and the love looked for in all the wrong places. Not a time I like to remember, but one that Deeth’s writing has allowed me to revisit and to understand better. It’s comforting to realize that teenaged angst hasn’t changed much over the years and it’s not too late to feel that maybe I wasn’t as alone as I thought.