Skid Dogs by Emelia Symington-Fedy
CBC Books | Posted: August 21, 2023 6:26 AM | Last Updated: January 5
A riveting coming-of-age story about teenage friendship and the casual oppression of 90s rape culture
Emelia Symington-Fedy grew up with her girl gang on the railroad tracks of a small town in British Columbia. Unsupervised and wild, the girls explored the power and shortcomings of "best" friendships and their growing sexuality.
Two decades later an 18-year-old girl is murdered on Halloween on the same tracks, and Symington-Fedy returns to her hometown to stay with her mother, who is fearful of a murderer at large.
While the media narrows its focus on how the girl dared be alone on the tracks, Symington-Fedy slowly comes to terms with the mistreatment of her own teenage body. Giving a bold and often darkly humorous first-hand account of nineties rape culture and the sexual coercion that still permeates girlhood, Symington-Fedy holds her hometown close and accountable and exposes the subtle ways that misogyny shows up daily. Award-winning poet and author Aislinn Hunter describes Skid Dogs as a "riveting, raucous and tender look at growing up a girl in a boy's world. […] Beautifully written and bravely told, this book is the Stand By Me for girls that's been far too long in coming." (From Douglas & McIntyre)
Emelia Symington-Fedy is an essayist, storyteller and documentary producer. She is the creator of the popular blog and radio show that became an audiobook, Trying to Be Good: The Healing Powers of Lying, Cheating, Stealing, and Drugs. She grew up in Armstrong, B.C. and currently lives in Shuswap, B.C.