My overall impression of this book can be summed up in one word - ugly. The book is about ugliness - the physical ugliness of one character and the ugly personalities of most everyone else in the book.
The story is about Elva, a young girl living in a small town in Nova Scotia in the early 1900's and she is the physically ugly character. She has a harsh mother, a completely distasteful father and a self centred half sister. Elva wants to be like her sister and is, in many ways, the typical tag along little sister. Her sister is unpleasant to her, not because she's the tag along little sister, but because Elva is deformed and she, her sister, is beautiful. The writing is alright (not great, not bad) and the writer has a distinctive style. I didn't really enjoy his style of writing, but it may appeal to others. I did not enjoy this book, mainly because of the theme and the fact that I felt worse after reading it, which is fine in some novels if the reader has learned something important or significant. This was not the case for Miss Elva.
Elva liked to draw and I suppose her solace was supposed to be her art. I felt that this part of her character was contrived to provide an ending that was meant to be redemptive but for me, fell flat.
I would not recommend this book.

Malone's description and tale telling gifts shine through in this story of rural Nova Scotia during the late 1920s. Not only does he put the reader in the midst of Demerett Bridge (the fictional village) but also jettisons you into the lives of Miss Elva, her sister Jane, her mother and a cast of other characters.

The characterization in this novel is strong, strong as an Oak, the odd first name of one of the novel's main characters. The strongest character by far is the physically weakest character Miss Elva. Based losely on the Nova Scotia painter Maud Lewis, Miss Elva shines through her lot in life like the bright colours of Lewis' art.

Malone's book helps set the bar, and sets it high, for other books in the relatively new genre of Atlantic Gothic. With the sea beckoning and the tar ponds glistening, this is a novel that will stay with you long after you have turned the final page.

I really liked this book. Well developed and well written - a barn burner of a novel. I didn't want it to end.