In a remote Labrador community during the 1960s, Jacinta and Treadway have a child. After the birth, Jacinta and Thomasina, who helped with the birth, decide to keep the baby’s hermaphrodite condition to themselves, but Treadway senses something is wrong with their child. The child, Wayne is taken to the Goose Bay hospital where, at Treadway’s insistence, the baby’s female condition is suppressed through operations and drugs. As Wayne grows, Treadway introduces the boy into his male domain of hunting while Jacinta saddens at the loss of a daughter.

But what happens with the onset of puberty? Will the boys at his school sense his difference? And what will happen when a teenage girl wants to get closer? This is both a beautifully written coming-of-age story as well as a story about the struggle of a father trying to accept his child for who he is.

• Canadian 5 out of 5s