Those Pink Mountain Nights
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- $22.99
Publisher Description
In her remarkable second novel following her Governor General’s Award-winning debut, The Summer of Bitter and Sweet, Jen Ferguson writes about the hurt of a life stuck in past tense, the hum of connections that cannot be severed, and one week in a small, snowy town that changes everything.
Overachievement isn’t a bad word—for Berlin, it’s the goal. She’s securing excellent grades, planning her future, and working a part-time job at Pink Mountain Pizza, a legendary local business. Who says she needs a best friend by her side?
Dropping out of high school wasn’t smart—but it was necessary for Cameron. Since his cousin Kiki’s disappearance, it’s hard enough to find the funny side of life, especially when the whole town has forgotten Kiki. To them, she’s just another missing Native girl.
People at school label Jessie a tease, a rich girl—and honestly, she’s both. But Jessie knows she contains multitudes. Maybe her new job crafting pizzas will give her the high-energy outlet she desperately wants.
When the weekend at Pink Mountain Pizza takes several unexpected turns, all three teens will have to acknowledge the various ways they’ve been hurt—and how much they need each other to hold it all together.
Jen Ferguson burst onto the YA scene with her first novel, which was a William C. Morris Award Finalist and a Stonewall Award Honor Book, and this second novel fulfills her promise as one of the most thoughtful and exciting YA writers today.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The latest disappearance in a long line of missing Indigenous women and girls from Alberta, teenager Kiki Cheyanne Sound, who is Black and Cree, has been missing for five months. Classmates Cameron Sound, who is Cree; Berlin Chambers, who is Métis; and Jessie Hampton, who is white, work together at Pink Mountain Pizza, a local Black-owned food joint. Each teen is dealing with their own challenges: Kiki's cousin Cam is struggling with her vanishing and hides behind a disaffected facade, Berlin is managing undiagnosed depression while coping with her best friend ghosting her, and Jessie is navigating a tense relationship with her deeply misogynistic father. The trio is forced to come together when Berlin sees Kiki near Pink Mountain Pizza, launching the teens into an investigation behind her disappearance that is imperiled by the parlor owner's plans to sell and franchise the pizzeria. As they try to find Kiki, the group also endeavors to prevent the owner from selling. Via an intersectionally diverse cast, this character-driven story by Ferguson (The Summer of Bitter and Sweet) tackles macro-level issues such as anti-Blackness as well as Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit Individuals alongside familiar teenage troubles surrounding friendship breakups. Ages 13–up.
