Shortlisted for the Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction 2008.
Prepare to enter a world hopefully most of us will never know. The story of a 12 year old girl, Baby, who has been brought up in the red light district of Montreal by her heroin addicted father. Matters get worse when he is taken in to hospital and later when he betrays his daughter further. Baby is a strong, intelligent character despite the hurdles she has faced in her young life and this novel is a fascinating and observant piece of writing.
Heather O'Neill dazzles with a first novel of extraordinary prescience and power, a subtly understated yet searingly effective story of a young life on the streets-and the strength, wits, and luck necessary for survival. At thirteen, Baby vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation: still young enough to drag her dolls around in a vinyl suitcase yet old enough to know more than she should about urban cruelties. Motherless, she lives with her father, Jules, who takes better care of his heroin habit than he does of his daughter. Baby's gift is a genius for spinning stories and for cherishing the small crumbs of happiness that fall into her lap. But her blossoming beauty has captured the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local pimp who runs an army of sad, slavishly devoted girls-a volatile situation even the normally oblivious Jules cannot ignore. And when an escape disguised as betrayal threatens to crush Baby's spirit, she will ultimately realize that the power of salvation rests in her hands alone.
Heather O’Neill is a contributor to this American Life and her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine. Her childhood was divided between Virginia with her mother, and Montreal with her father. She now lives in Montreal with her partner and her daughter.
