Gr 9 Up-This debut novel is a masterly coming-of-age story set in 1967 Washington state. Ida Petrowich, a 15-year-old white teen, awaits the return of her beloved father from an Alaskan fishing expedition. When the worst happens and her father is considered lost at sea, Ida's world is shaken. With her father's loss, secrets and rumors about his life rise to the surface. As Ida attempts to unearth the truth, she finds herself barred by her grieving mother, who wants to protect Ida's idolized view of her father. The teens find solace in her friendships with her cousin Dena and her emerging romance with Sam, a Filipino student. As the one-year anniversary of her father's disappearance approaches and her friends depart for work in Alaska, the young woman finds life unbearable. She runs to Alaska looking for answers and finds friendship, love, and growth. McGaffin's story, like the still waters Ida thinks about, runs deep. More than a coming-of-age family drama, by setting the story in 1967, McGaffin has Ida experience the turmoil of the civil rights movement and racism while interweaving Indigenous legends into Ida's journey. The plot, combined with excellent character development, does not get bogged down in its depth, but delightfully unfolds to a satisfying and optimistic conclusion. Perfect for fans of Liz Moore's The Unseen World or Tayari Jones's Silver Sparrow . VERDICT This indie delight will charm readers with its story about family and self-discovery. Kaetlyn Phillips, Yorkton, Sask.

A teenage girl in 1967 explores her father's veiled past in this debut historical novel.Fifteen-year-oldIdaPetrovich worships her dad, a gregarious fisherman who makes a daring crossing every year from their town of Annisport, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska. But this year, his boat never returns home; the Coast Guard inform Ida and her mother that he's "presumed drowned," and they struggle with accepting that "someone's dead when there's no evidence." Ida overhears a cryptic conversation between her mother and grandmother about her father, in which her mom says "I can't have a funeral when I'm not even sure he's dead." So Ida decides to uncover the truth for herself. After contacting a woman whom his father knew in Ketchikan, she decides to run away from home and work at a cannery there for the summer, in the hopes of finding out more about her dad. Gutting fish for hours on end proves "tiring and monotonous," but over time, Ida becomes friends with a spirited Tlingit girl named Jody and grows close to Sam Taposok, a Filipino-American boy from her high school who faces daily discrimination. Through it all, Ida grapples with her father's identity: his affinity for the "scoundrel" raven of Alaskan myth; his personal charisma, which allowed him to create communities beyond his family; and his love for home, coupled with his desire to leave it. McGaffin deftly maps how Ida's view of her father changes from an idol to a flawed human, as well as the way that grief encroaches on every element of one's life. Overall, though, her novel is more heartwarming than bleak as it chronicles how the Petrovich women haltingly find ways to survive and plan for an unforeseen future. The relationship between Ida and her mother provides the main dramatic tension; the father's absence exposes how they used him as an emotional buffer and forces them to communicate their fears. These heart-to-hearts become slightly less believable as the tale winds to a close, and McGaffin ties everything up a bit too neatly. Nevertheless, the story maintains a certain rawness that sustains its impact.A charming, emotional story about family, fishing, and self-discovery.