What's Not Mine: A Novel

“Nora Decter has written a wrenching, knowing, and wry novel about coming of age into a rough world.” — Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion

For fans of Miriam Toews, an absorbing, darkly funny story of family, addiction, and survival

The summer Bria Powers turns 16 is sinister. Waves of insects plague her hometown of Beauchamp, where fentanyl has recently infiltrated the drug stream. Forest fires muddy the normally wide-open skies, and everything smells like a barbecue all the time. It’s also the summer Bria goes from having saved a life to ruining her own.

Since her drug-dealing father disappeared and his girlfriend overdosed, Bria has lived with her aunt Tash and best friend/cousin Ains. By day, Bria and Ains babysit Ains’s younger siblings and sling fast food at Burger Shack. But at night, Bria has her own secret world, sneaking out to see Someboy, an older guy who captivates her sometimes. Other times, he angers-insults-upends her, and that has a certain charm too.

But trouble comes for Beauchamp and for Bria in the form of bears that wander into town, dick pics texted from a mystery number, and a creeping dependence on what Bria should hate most of all.

Steeped in tragicomedy and written in starkly observed prose, What’s Not Mine explores inheritance, addiction, and survival when the odds are against you.

Nora Decter is a writer from Treaty 1 Territory. She studied creative writing at York University and Stony Brook University, and in 2019 received the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for literary fiction for her YA novel How Far We Go and How Fast. Nora lives in Winnipeg with her partner and their two cats, near the foot of Garbage Hill.

ISBN: 9781770417649
Format: Paperback
Pages: 248
Publisher: ECW Press
Published: April 02, 2024

“With a fine attunement to the unique challenges of being a teenage girl, first novelist Decter writes in the compelling voice of a young woman veering towards an edge she can sense but can’t seem to avoid.” — Booklist“With humor and a lack of sentimentality, Decter portrays an adolescent girl and her town facing serious environmental and social challenges.” — Library Journal“Nora Decter has written a wrenching, knowing, and wry novel about coming of age into a rough world. Skillful and appealingly deadpan, What’s Not Mine explores the quest for solace, belonging, and distractions. Decter is a fine writer, and this is a memorable novel.” — Meg Wolitzer, author of The Female Persuasion“What’s Not Mine is both a wild summer drug story and a moving account of a tough teenage girl trying to navigate the mad, sad world of adult failure. Decter deftly describes the casual, corrosive misogyny that closes in on young women like a pack of dogs and the trickiness of addiction. I couldn’t put it down.” — Zoe Whittall, author of The Fake“Contemporary fiction readers looking for equal parts grit and heart will enjoy this one.” — Library Journal