Why are saddle shoes wrong and loafers right? Nora Mackenzie’s not sure, but it’s 1959 and she knows that if she wants to fit in at her new school, the saddle shoes have got to go. Nora’s mother could explain if she was still alive, but she recently died of leukemia. Now the family has moved from Penticton, B.C., to perpetually rainy North Vancouver, where everything is difficult. Nora’s older sisters are away all week in a nursing program and her father is too caught up in his own grief to pay attention to her. Nora’s best friend and cousin, Lizzie, writes cheerful letters, but her looming heart operation frightens both girls. Nora takes up the challenges of her new life with courage and determination, and eventually finds the inner strength to carry her through.

Rie Charles’s second novel for tweens is an honest exploration of grief. Nora has all the regular concerns of a 12-year-old, compounded by her struggle to adjust to life without her mother. She copes by expressing her frustration and sorrow via messages she writes on a chalkboard in her room: “Dad, talk to me about Mum!” “Why did you want to leave me, Mum?” “I want you back.”

Charles evokes the late 1950s with a light touch. She has fun with the prop of an autograph book – a once-popular fad now as extinct as saddle shoes. The playful and sentimental rhymes written by friends and family in Nora’s book highlight her emotional journey with gentle humour.

Despite some painful subject matter, A Hole in My Heart is not a depressing book. The story strikes a nice balance between ordinary elements (babysitting, fights between siblings, kittens, favourite books) and the more weighty issues of life and death. Charles has captured the inner reality of an indomitable heroine, and Nora’s unquenchable curiosity and sensitivity to other people are a tribute to human resilience.