Our Little Secret

Winner of the 2023 Lynd Ward Graphic Novel Prize for best graphic novel published in the USA or Canada in 2022.

Our Little Secret is my debut graphic memoir published in 2022. It is the true story of the sexual abuse I experienced when I  was 15 years old at the hands of my 40 year old neighbour, as well as the story of my attempts to get justice through the courts. The first half of the book recounts past events, mostly in rural Prince Edward Island in the early 1980s. At that time I lived with my eccentric father in increasingly cold and dilapidated homes, but I had the consolation of my pet sheep to comfort me, and my beloved horse Lady to take me for rides through woods and fields and down quiet country roads. The second half of the book fast forwards to more recent times, and includes my attempts to get justice, and the bumpy path I took to eventual healing. I point out the steps of grooming and things that might help children who are being abused, in the hopes of helping others that were victims, and to make it easier for their friends and family to understand what they went through.