*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Title: The Inquirer
Author: Jaclyn Dawn
Publisher: NeWest Press
Publication Date: October 1, 2019
ISBN: 9781988732671
Synopsis from Goodreads:
When an accident jeopardizing the family farm draws Amiah Williams back to Kingsley, Alberta, population 1431, she doesn’t expect her homecoming to make front-page news. But there she is in The Inquirer, the mysterious tabloid that is airing her hometown’s dirty laundry. Alongside stories of high school rivalries and truck-bed love affairs, disturbing revelations about Amiah’s past and present are selling papers and fuelling small-town gossip. As the stakes get higher, Amiah must either expose the twisted truth behind The Inquirer or watch her life fall apart again.
I was a little uncertain about how much I’d enjoy The Inquirer based on the synopsis, but I enjoyed this story so much. Dawn writes the story of a young woman, Amiah, who, after two years of university, returns home to help her parents in the aftermath of her father’s injury. A return to her small, Canadian-prairie hometown brings with it a whole host of memories that she’d thought she’d left behind. To top things off, the local gossip paper, The Inquirer, is printing everybody’s business front and center for all of the local busybodies to poke their noses into. Surprise, Miah’s the source behind the paper, but stirring up trouble in the town may bring trouble for Miah herself.
I related to Miah on so many levels and felt a kindred spirit in her. Her loving parents and her small-town upbringing felt familiar, as did her move from the rural community to the big city for school. Miah is struggling to find her place. She no longer feels as though she fits in with this life she left behind and no one seems to relate to her anymore. She’s trying to find herself through her writing, but she’s only feeling progressively more lost. She’s hoping to find her direction, but she’s got to confront her past and her present before she can heal and move forward.
Miah’s story is full of small-town gossip, but it’s also full of friendship and family. In travelling her own path of self-discovery, she opens herself up to get to know her loved ones and friends even better. It turns out that running away from your problems is not always the most productive way to deal with overcoming difficulty.
I love to shine the spotlight on new Canadian literature, so I’ll hope you’ll give this one a shot. It’s a fast read that’s light-hearted, funny, and sweet. It felt so essentially Canadian to me. I would highly recommend. I hope you enjoy!
Happy reading!
Worn Pages and Ink 