A teenager in the 1970s, Gwen is stuck in one of the last tuberculosis sanatoriums in Nova Scotia. Thoughtful and observant, she documents her surroundings in the hospital, especially the characters living with her in the anachronistic TB ward. Gwen's method of handling her isolating sickness is to learn as much about it as she can, and interspersed throughout the book are Gwen's research notes on the disease itself. Gwen is funny and wry about most situations, from her stairwell fling with a fellow patient to one night''s drunken escape at a party in town. But threaded through her writing are glimpses of a violent and dark stain on her recent past. We slowly learn that Gwen's mother is in a mental hospital and doesn't remember her daughter, and that Gwen's father is dead.