Girl in Shades

A poignant novel of loss, growing up, and an unusually gifted girl finding her way in the world.
 
Maya Devine has a strange ability to see colors that surround other people—and sometimes even to hear the thoughts in their heads. But even with these gifts, she still struggles to understand her mother, Marigold. Desperate for enlightenment, Marigold drags Maya to library lectures on making money and gardening as part of her home schooling; attends AA meetings even though she never has more than two drinks at a time; and conscripts Maya for the very personal crusade of spreading the words of the Bhagavad Gita from street corners.
 
When Marigold is diagnosed with cancer and vows to spend her final days in the tepee she’s set up in the backyard, neighbors and strangers—believing the dying Marigold to be a prophet—camp out in the family’s front yard. As her father grows ever more distant, Maya finds solace in the music of 1980s teen idol Corey Hart—but as she faces her losses, she must eventually find a vision for her future on her own.
 
“An immensely satisfying coming-of-age tale and a remarkable first novel.” —Chatelaine