They say Dor's family is cursed. The house her great-great grandfather built on the Southside of St. John's has never been at peace; the old people think it lies on a fairy path.

Ever since electricity came to the island, things have worsened, and experiments in the brand-new technology of radio put her family in real peril. In December 1901, Marconi arrives in Newfoundland with a secret mission: to receive the first wireless trans-Atlantic radio signal. Disguised as a boy, Dor joins his team.

Then the "Little Strangers" kidnap her mother. Must Dor sabotage Marconi's experiments to save her? (From Running the Goat)

Urchin is a finalist for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for young people's literature — text. The winner will be announced on Nov. 16, 2022.

Kate Story is a Ontario-based writer and theatre artist who was born and raised in St. John's.