SWAN DIVE

Set in the early 1990s, a teenage refugee from Sarajevo adapts to a new country, a new language, new school and even finds a wonderful best friend, until the pressures of past and present collide and lead to a lie that changes everything. The story takes on the potentially heavy subjects of cancer, therapy, fat shaming, refugees and betrayal with refreshing honesty and irreverent teen humor.

Brenda Hasiuk has published adult short stories in the Malahat Review, New Quarterly and Prism. She has previously written two YA novels, Where the Rocks Say Your Name (shortlisted for the McNally-Robinson Book of the Year and the Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction) and Your Constant Star (praised by Kirkus for its "authentic teen characters, closely observed settings and moving plot").