No Room for Me in This Family

From the back cover

After a family holiday dinner, six people crowd into a car built for five. Elowen's little brother Hugh sleeps safely in his car seat, while Elowen is left half hanging off the back seat. When a sobriety checkpoint threatens a 200-dollar fine, her mother Christina Brook, her grandparents Victoria Hudson and Ben Vale, and her sleeping, drunk father Pierre Vale all agree that Elowen should be the one to get out and walk.

She steps onto the pavement in the heat, telling herself she is an adult making a sacrifice for the family. But the white sedan sails past the intersection without stopping, and Elowen is left behind with no phone and no way to call for help. Hours later she reaches home, only to find she does not even know the door code, which turns out to be Hugh's birthday.

Standing outside the house, Elowen begins to understand how little space she occupies in her own family, and wonders whether she must keep making room for herself at all.