Bliss Adair and the First Rule of Knitting

Bliss Adair knows how to fix things. At 16, she has been solving math problems at school and unravelling knitting disasters at her parents’ yarn shop “Help Desk” for years. But there’s no simple, logical solution to her friends’ life problems. When she overhears the mother of a friend talking on the phone to what sounds like a lover, no option seems right. When a new friend agonizes over whether to tell the father of her unborn child of her pregnancy, there is no easy answer. And don’t get Bliss started on romance.

In Bliss Adair and the First Rule of Knitting, author Jean Mills works her way into the adolescent psyche, nailing the voice of an intelligent, compassionate girl who has discovered her way through the confusions of life. But when Bliss is confronted with the mess of real emotions and unpredictability of life, she has to learn a new set of coping skills.

There is lots to love in Bliss Adair and the First Rule of Knitting. Jean Mills’ short chapters and effortless writing make the intensity of adolescent life immersive and completely believable. For all her skills in problem solving, Bliss (such a great name!) is cast adrift when logic doesn’t apply to the increasingly complex problems of life. Bliss is a caring person with a close-knit group of friends, and the diversity of a comprehensive high school, with all its complex needs, is effectively represented. We may not relate to her satisfied sigh at tackling a difficult equation, but it’s easy to connect to someone who seems to have it figured out – one step at a time, one stitch at a time, one function at a time – and learns that life is not always so predictable.

Another strength of the novel is the description of the (somewhat) positive culture of high school, not the toxic awfulness portrayed so frequently in YA literature. Though many young adult novels explore the horrors of exclusion and bullying, few look at the reality of the diversity accepted without question. Bliss’s best friend, Anderson, is overweight and gay, but he is comfortable with who he is and fits in to the high school culture. Sydney, her new, pregnant friend, is accepted when her situation is made clear. The racial, cultural and gender diversity of public schools is a clear and accurate portrayal of reality in today’s Canadian culture – and no one answer fits all situations. Granted, most of the voices in the novel are white, but the range of possible ways of being is a powerful force for acceptance.

In another divergence from traditional YA novels, Jean Mills portrays a positive, loving adult relationship in the marriage of Bliss’s parents. Though we see examples of many flawed adults – Finn’s mother, Lauren, dabbles in infidelity, and Bethany’s parents have conflicts – Bliss’ mother and father clearly love each other. Their joy in becoming parents late in life reflects in their positive attitude to their family business and their obvious (sometimes embarrassing) affection for each other and their commitment to their daughter. Their unconditional support of Bliss adds much to her emotional resilience and psychic confidence, the lack of which leaves many adolescents adrift and floundering.

Though the central conflict of the novel may seem underwhelming, the anxiety that results is convincingly intense. Teen life often revolves around minor conflicts that become major, and Bliss has to harmonize her logical solutions with emotional complexity to deal with the new, complicated problems that life presents.

A thoughtful, thoroughly authentic coming of age novel, Bliss Adair and the First Rule of Knitting will connect a new generation of high schoolers to the joys of knitting, math, and friendship.