The Other Side of Youth

Kelli Deeth's female protagonists confront the emotional complexities of marriage, childlessness, adoption, adolescent longing, friendship, and death; they mourn the loss of youth while grappling with the uncertainties of adulthood.

In "Vera’s Room," a woman who is unable to conceive negotiates a tense relationship with the seven-year-old girl she and her husband have adopted. In "Embrace," Theresa, a young woman who has just had an abortion decides to give up on sexual desire and settle with a divorced father who can provide her with safety. And in "Sis," Jenny moves back to Toronto from Winnipeg in order to start her life over and reconnect with her step-brother, with whom she shares complicated and tragic childhood.

These are stories about the vagaries of family and the narrow chasm between longing and grief; with a deft hand and a knowing eye, Kelli Deeth creates stories that are devastating, incisive portraits of dysfunction and desire.

Kelli Deeth's first book, The Girl without Anyone (HarperCollins Canada), was a Globe and Mail best book of 2001. She teaches writing at the University of Toronto.

Review"Each story in The Other Side of Youth is a finely tuned powerhouse." —Quill and Quire (STARRED REVIEW)

"This highly realistic collection showcased Deeth’s ability to write taut, compelling fiction about someone as familiar as the girl at the mall, or the girl next door ... The Other Side of Youth is the best collection of short stories I have read in recent memory." —The Globe and Mail

"A warning: these are the kind of stories, so resonant and startling, that they'll make you lose your breath, want to read sentences aloud, tear off paragraphs and hang them on your wall. Kelli Deeth mines the beauty and longing of women's lives with a rare restraint and precision. These stories are exquisite and heartbreaking, and seem destined to become classics." —Rebecca Godfrey, author of Under the Bridge and The Torn Skirt

About the AuthorKelli Deeth: Kelli Deeth’s first book, The Girl Without Anyone (HarperCollins Canada), was chosen as one of The Globe and Mail’s Best Canadian Books of 2001. She holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of British Columbia and currently teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto.