Annabel is a touching coming of age story about an intersex child born in Labrador. The book is an exploration of gender identity its effect on how we are perceived in society (and how we perceive ourselves). It's also a simply wonderful story. Kathleen's prose is lyrical and a delight to read. She does a wonderful job of capturing the essence of place and left me with a desire to see Labrador. If I had one criticism, it would only be that I found the middle of the book suffered slightly with unnecessary digressions and descriptions that slowed the pace down. The novel would have been stronger if some of this had been cut. That being said, it is a great novel and certainly worthy of the Giller nomination that it received.