Book Review: Why I’m Here by Jill Frayne

*I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*
Title: Why I’m Here
Author: Jill Frayne
Publisher: NeWest Press
Publication Date: May 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77439-049-8

Synopsis from Goodreads:
Fifteen-year-old Gale is desperate to get out of Whitehorse, a fact that is immediately clear to counsellor Helen Cotillard when Gale walks into her office with her reluctant stepmother. It’s 1995, and one counselling agency for kids and families serves all of the Yukon. Gale has been having anxiety attacks, the last one so severe it landed her in the hospital.

Helen soon begins to realize that Gale’s distress at being separated from her little sister Buddie too closely parallels a calamity from her own past. This tragic similarity leaves Helen uneasy about her profession and her ability to help her clients. When Gale does escape back to her home in Cobalt, Ontario, to protect Buddie from their brutal mother, she risks her own future.

———-

Why I’m Here is a beautiful and tragic story of two lives that, though different and apart in age, mirror one another closely enough that it brings two women together in a path that will hopefully lead towards healing. Helen is a counsellor in the Yukon who has kept herself distant from her family, particularly after the sudden and tragic loss of her young, beloved sister. Gale is a young woman who has known nothing but abuse and neglect and in gaining some distance to heal herself, she separates herself from her younger sister, leaving her behind in a volatile and violent home. They meet in the frozen north, in the confines of a sterile counselling room. It is in this stark, impersonal space that they both journey together to work through the pain that has frozen Gale through.

Frayne’s writing brings to life the beauty and terror of the North. At once breathtaking and deadly, the frozen and unforgiving land is to be loved and feared. The landscape takes on a personality of it’s own, a sort of third character in this book, as the other characters bow to it’s will and live their lives at its mercy. While there is appreciation for the long winters and cold weather, and accomplishment at learning to survive in the most difficult of conditions, there is also apprehension in knowing that death is a mere moment away. It is the true Canadian North that Frayne infuses into her story, and the characters’ stories are made all the more compelling with the accompanying third character that is the Northern tundra.

What I loved most of all with this story was the growth that the two women see as the story progresses. While there is much that is broken and their lives are full of unbearable pain, there is also hope and positive growth. Frayne does not shy away from those difficult topics. There is so much pain that these characters live with. Despite their pain, they are taking every difficult step towards trying to find peace and forgiveness, even if sometimes it feels like they are heading in the wrong direction. It’s so true to life, and it gives Frayne’s characters both heart and soul. I hope you’ll pick this one up because it’s a real gem.

Happy reading!