 Largely autobiographical, it traces the growth and development of a young girl into an accomplished writer.Like much of Roy's fiction, it includes a very autobiographical style and weaves vignettes into a tapestry of the specific time and place.The book covers themes including the social divide between the French Canadian and English Canadian communities in what were the twin cities of St. Boniface and Winnipeg, Manitoba, European immigration to the Canadian prairies, family dynamics and racial integration.