One Year in Coal Harbor: 09/07/12

One Year in Coal Harbor by Polly Horvath is the sequel to Everything on a Waffle. Although Primrose returns to narrate, she isn't the main character. That honor goes to Evie and Bert's newest foster child, a troubled boy named Ked.

Ked spends one year with his foster parents. In that time Primrose does her best to help him fit in. She can still remember the time when she was ridiculed for being a foster child.

Primrose's uncle and the owner of the Girl on the Red Swing continue to compete. Now it's all about cooking. Nudged on by Primrose, Kate Bowzer is convinced that Uncle Jack doesn't think she can do French cooking. She wants to show him a thing or too about her skills!

Meanwhile outside of town there's a protest over the proposed clear cutting of the nearby mountain. It seems as though Coal Harbor is on the eve of becoming a very different place. Primrose observes and reports on the adults' protests and meetings over the logging.

Although Coal Harbor is a fictional small town on Vancouver Island, it's history as laid out in Horvath's two books bear an uncanny resemblance to that of the city of Vancouver. Readers familiar with the story of Stanley Park — next door to an area named Coal Harbour, might see some similarities with this fictional Coal Harbo(u)r.

The Canadian edition, by the way, is One Year in Coal Harbour and frankly I wish the U.S. edition kept the Canadian spelling.

Four stars

Comments (2)

Comment #1: Friday, September 07, 2012 at 22:30:31

Shannon Clark

Sounds like a good one since I liked Everything on a Waffle!

Although I'm not sure how I feel about Primrose not being a main character. :)

Comment #2: Friday, September 07, 2012 at 20:48:23

Pussreboots

She still has a strong voice as the narrator even if she's not the focus of the story. I think you will like it.