Against the stark and haunting landscape of Canada's Far North, fifteen-year-old Trista chronicles the events of her life from her room in the Polar Girls' Prison. Caught in the decline of sexual abuse, drunkenness, and failed motherhood, Trista tries to make sense of her past, especially the events that led her to jail. Within the grim confines of the prison there are acts of kindness on the part of the staff and Trista's fellow detainees, there is the thrill of Trista's illicit romance, the memories of her mother, her best friend, and times spent with the Snow Nanuks, elder women who live according to Inuit tradition. The young woman's stream-of-consciousness narration, through memories of the past and visions of the future, takes the reader far beyond the prison's walls. Cathleen With, author of the story collection Skids, has worked as a teacher in Inuvik and Seoul. She lives in Vancouver.