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Just as fourteen-year-old Lucy is starting to figure out life after her mom's death, her dad ships her off to Cape John, her mom's hometown, for the summer. Worse, she has to live with her nutty great-aunt Josie, who doesn't cook edible food or suffer fools. Soon Lucy meets Colin, freshly moved from the West Coast, who's digging an enormous hole in his new yard. He spends every day digging deeper in protest of his family's unilateral decision to move to this tiny oceanside community. As Colin digs in the ground, Lucy digs through her family's history, and eventually both of them uncover a shocking truth.

The Big Dig asks big questions of its readers: Are secrets ever okay? What defines a family? And can we ever really know our parents? Lisa Harrington's light and funny voice blends seamlessly with Lucy's grief, creating an authentic and riveting emotional landscape.

LISA HARRINGTON's Live to Tell won the Ann Connor Brimer Award and was nominated for the OLA White Pine Award, the SYRCA Snow Willow Award, and the Arthur Ellis Award for Juvenile/YA Novel. Her work has appeared in A Maritime Christmas; her first novel, Rattled, was published to critical acclaim in 2010. She holds a degree in Education from Mount Saint Vincent University and has worked as a childcare worker and a teacher. A lifelong resident of Nova Scotia, Harrington currently resides in Halifax.

Lisa Harrington's profile page

• Nominated, Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award (MYRCA) Northern Lights List
• Short-listed, Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People