Break in Case of Emergency

In 1992, Toby, 15, continues to struggle with the loss of her mother who killed herself when Toby was only ten. Even at that time, living alone with her mother, Toby had already developed an acute sense of isolation, shouldering the burden of her mother’s mental illness and a sense of abandonment by a father she knew almost nothing about. Taken in by her maternal grandparents on a farm near the small Canadian town she lived in with her mother, Toby never found a way to reconcile her feelings of loss and her own crushing sense of responsibility in her mother’s death. Toby’s sense of loss manifests in an acute feeling of insignificance, believing that the world would be better off without her. She determinedly pursues this end, even when her estranged father suddenly reaches out to her.

Brian Francis is masterful in creating rich characters who, aside from Toby, are only partially revealed to readers. The effect is powerful because it tempers Toby’s deeply self-focused first-person narrative by alluding to the complexity and internal struggles of other characters whose lives also contain experiences of loss, disappointment, aloneness, and uncertainty. Rather than constructing Toby’s angst as self-indulgent, readers see her as “stuck”, having never dealt with her feelings about her mother and even her father. This makes her, at times, a difficult character because she is bright, kind, and likeable, but she is also brooding, self-centred, and deeply unhappy. It is through the loving support of her friends and family who, equally imperfect, create space for her to grow and consider developing a relationship with her equally complicated father.

An emotional read, Break in Case of Emergency is a carefully crafted story that explores the inner lives of ordinary people facing tragic circumstances. It is also a story that explores intergenerational pain derived from social exclusion and the compounding effects of silence. A richly layered and powerfully developed novel, this work will appeal to a range of mature reading audiences, including young people interested in a narrative that explores mental health, gender difference, social exclusion, isolation, family bonds, and friendship.