''Y'' is the

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

of American-Canadian writer Marjorie Celona. It was published in 2012 by

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...

Plot

Shortly after being born on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

, Shannon is abandoned in front of a

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

and discovered by Vaughn, an exercise fiend who has arrived at the

before it's opened. Shannon is moved to a few foster homes before finally being adopted by a single mother named Miranda in order to be a sister to her only daughter, Lydia-Rose. Though Miranda tries to be a good parent to Shannon, Shannon feels like an outsider in her relationship with Miranda and Lydia-Rose. As she grows older

amblyopia Amblyopia, also called lazy eye, is a disorder of sight in which the brain fails to fully process input from one eye and over time favors the other eye. It results in decreased vision in an eye that typically appears normal in other aspects. Amb ...

in one of her eyes causes her to go blind in one eye and her strange looks mean she is occasionally bullied. After she runs away to

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

and is brought back by the police, Shannon begins to search for her birth parents, encountering Vaughn along the way. With help from a social worker Shannon is able to contact a man she believes is her biological father, Harrison Church. After contacting him by letter, Shannon learns that she was born the day after her half-brother, Eugene, died after ingesting a mixture of cough-syrup and

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

while Harrison and her mother, Yula, were off getting high in the woods. Yula abandoned her in front of the

knowing that she would have to give up custody of her child anyway after her son's death and not wanting her daughter to know about the things her parents had done.

Awards

''Y'' won the

Waterstones 11 The Waterstones 11 was a literary book prize aimed at promoting debut authors, run and curated by British bookseller Waterstones. It ran from 2011–13. The list of 11 authors are selected from a list of 100 authors submitted by publishers. The ...

literary prize and was a shortlisted nominee for the

Center for Fiction The Center for Fiction, originally called the New York Mercantile Library, is a not-for-profit organization in New York City, with offices at 15 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Prior to their move in early 2018, The Center for Fiction ...

's Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, the Amazon.ca First Novel Award"Kim Thuy, Marjorie Celona among finalists for Amazon.ca First Novel Award"
''

National Post The ''National Post'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet newspaper available in several cities in central and western Canada. The paper is the flagship publication of Postmedia Network and is published Mondays through Saturdays, with ...

'', February 27, 2013. and a longlisted nominee for the

Scotiabank Giller Prize The Giller Prize (sponsored as the Scotiabank Giller Prize), is a literary award given to a Canadian author of a novel or short story collection published in English (including translation) the previous year, after an annual juried competition be ...

."Victoria author makes Giller Prize long list". ''

Victoria Times-Colonist The ''Times Colonist'' is an English-language daily newspaper in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It was formed by the Sept. 2, 1980 merger of the ''Victoria Daily Times'', established in 1884, and the ''British Colonist'' (later the ''Daily Co ...

'', September 4, 2012.

References

{{reflist 2012 Canadian novels Novels set in British Columbia 2012 debut novels Hamish Hamilton books