• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 7 to 12

Rosalind Kemp is the youngest in a family of sisters. She lives a comfortable life in a small town in Ontario. Ros is active, loving, and artistic. And, she has second sight.

It is a part of her nature with which she has trouble coming to terms: sometimes it is nothing more than a pleasant parlor trick, like knowing that King Edward will abdicate; sometimes it is a curse that makes her feel freakish; and sometimes it is just plain terrifying. Ros tries everything she can to suppress the gift, and subsequently herself, but nothing works. If she is going to live her life fully, she will have to come to terms with every part of her being, just as everyone must.

This brilliant novel is Julie Johnston at her very best: it is funny, frightening, and painfully insightful.

JULIE JOHNSTON is the author of five novels for young people, two of which won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Text in Children’s Literature. Her work has received numerous awards and accolades throughout North America, including the IODE National Book Award, the Ruth Schwartz Young Adult Book Award and starred reviews in such publication as Publisher’s Weekly, Quill & Quire and the School Library Journal. As If by Accident is her first novel for adults. The mother of four grown daughters, Julie Johnston lives with her husband in Peterborough, Ontario.

Julie Johnston's profile page

Praise for Susanna’s Quill:

“…[Susanna’s Quill] brings to the subject what is best about Johnston’s writing — considerable thoughtfulness and proven ability to provide a rich, textured prose that invites readers deeper toward understanding.”
— The Toronto Star

Praise for In Spite of Killer Bees:

“…a signature Julie Johnston story: complex, subtle, and engaging.”
— The Horn Book Magazine

“...Johnston’s ... narrative is compelling…. An insightful novel about sisters, reconciling past and present, and opening hearts and minds.”
— Booklist

“A gem — another one — from two-time Governor General’s Award-winner Julie Johnston.”
— Globe and Mail

A Very Fine Line

Thirteen is a tumultuous time in a young girl’s life – a time of discovery, awakenings and change, not to mention nearly constant uncertainty. For Rosalind Kemp, youngest in a houseful of girls, her thirteenth year holds even more surprises than most as she stumbles upon family secrets and the realization that she has inherited a prophetic gift. Confused and frightened by this gift of second sight, Ros grows determined to deny it – by choosing to be a boy! If, as her great-aunts claim, she was destined to possess this gift because she is the seventh daughter of a seventh daughter, the solution, she reasons, is clearly to stop being a daughter. But despite her valiant efforts to ignore and suppress this reality about her very self, she ultimately discovers the heartbreaking truth that you are who you are and the key to happiness lies in self-acceptance.

Julie Johnston has created yet another cast of heartwarming and highly memorable characters here. Ros and her gaggle of older sisters are quirky, engaging young women. Cousin Corny, the great-aunts, and even scary Lucy are all vividly rendered. With beautiful turns of phrase she subtly evokes a sense of time and place, creating a masterful portrait of rural Ontario in the early 1940s. What readers cherish in Rosalind’s tale is her unique and poignant coming-of-age story that so simply but adroitly demonstrates the ever-important challenge of learning to know and trust and love oneself.

A Very Fine Line

In 1941, 13-year-old Rosalind tries to suppress her second sight. But if she is ever going to live a full life, she must come to terms with all of herself. Funny, frightening and insightful.