Y is the story that begins on the doorstep of the YMCA, where a newborn baby girl has just been abandoned. She’s discovered moments later by a man who catches just the briefest glimpse of her troubled mother as she disappears into the predawn light. All three lives have been forever changed; yours will be too.
 

Y is as charming as it is heart-wrenching; a deeply affecting book about the true meaning of identity, family and the place we call home. Shannon is one of the most unforgettable characters in fiction. As she is bounced between foster homes, questions about where she came from, who her true family is and why they would abandon her on the day she was born, constantly follow her. Her story is one defined by abuse and neglect, but also by hope, warmth and the bonds of love. The jumbled family of broken castaways assembled in the novel are enlivened with an essential humanity and realness so rarely achieved in fiction.  

Sharonne’s review
Yippee for Y, the debut novel by new author Marjorie Celona.    I was expecting a light ‘ish’ read about a  baby abandoned at the Y.  What I got was the life’s journey of Shannon, a baby who was left at the doorstep of the Victoria Y when she was hours old and then shifted from home to home.  Her mother hoped the baby would have a better life than she could offer her.  The baby suffered abuse and finally made it to becoming the second daughter of a single mother in Victoria.  Shannon never did fit in, her adoptive mother and sister whether they realized it or not, did not truly accept her as their own.   This book truly surprised me.  The story grabbed me.  I could not put the book down.  I read it in a day and a half.  At every turn I felt Shannon’s pain, despair and hope for a better life.    This book is or at least it should be a contender for all those amazing awards, Giller, Booker, Pulitzer.  It was a fantastic read.  Another great fall book club read. 

Check out Y from Penguin Canada