“It”s deeply personal and deals with tough subjects like addiction and sexual abuse,” says author Maggie de Vries of her new young adult novel, Rabbit Ears.

Based upon the true story of the disappearance of the author’s sister, Sarah, Rabbit Ears is “rooted deeply in Sarah’s childhood and youth.” It is a brave and unflinching exploration of the life of one of the many vulnerable young women living on the streets of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

YA Bookshelf calls Rabbit Ears “an incredible novel” that “offers up a sensitive and authentic narrative with two psychologically complex main characters, and imagery of rabbits, survivor guilt, and predator versus prey.”

Maggie is author of 10 award-winning books, including five picture books, two juvenile novels, two teen novels and the heart-breaking Missing Sarah: A Memoir of Loss. The latter won the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in BC Literature, the VanCity Book Prize, the Vancouver Book Award, and was nominated for the Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction. Her novel Hunger Journeys won the Sheila A. Egoff Children’s Literature Prize.

Maggie teaches creative writing at University of British Columbia. She lives with her husband and their two cats in a Vancouver townhouse overlooking the Fraser River.

Website: www.maggiedevries.com