• Age: 10 to 14
• Grade: 5 to 9

Five minutes. That's all it takes for Sylvia to fulfill a life's ambition and simultaneously blast fracture lines through her most important relationships.

Sylvia, fourteen, rides her horse in a cross-country competition, proving herself as an athlete, despite being an undeveloped shrimp with Turner Syndrome.

Unfortunately, her coach is furious that Sylvia rode too fast, and her cousin considers her irresponsible. Her mother would prefer that Sylvia focus on her health, start hormone treatment and develop like normal girls.

Sylvia is not ready for an estrogen transformation, but her triumphant athlete image does not transfer to school, where she is still a peculiar small person. Increasingly isolated, Sylvia dares to change, emerging with deeper self-confidence and broadened horizons.

Susan Ketchen was born in Nanaimo, B.C. She holds an M.Sc. degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She has successfully pursued an alarming number of not overly-long careers and now resides on a small Vancouver Island hobby farm with her husband, two horses, two cats and a flock of chickens.

Susan is a member of the B.C. Horse Council, the Comox Valley Dressage Club, and the Comox Valley Writer’s Society. She is a monitor with the Wildlife Tree Stewardship Program, giving her an official excuse to spend many hours staring out the window... at the eagles perching and nesting at the edge of the property. She is interested in animal training and teaches her horses to recognize a remarkable number of words, play the piano with their noses, and identify flash cards. Her favourite places to come up with new ideas are the barn, the pasture, and the shower. She has never received creative inspiration while vacuuming.

Susan Ketchen's profile page