It’s the 1930s. A tween girl named Junie moves into a small neighbourhood called Hogan’s Alley in Vancouver. The blossoming community is home to mostly Black residents, who enjoy the Black-owned bookshops, bars, and restaurants that become their neighbours’ pride and joy. But as Junie grows up, she begins experiencing unshakeable premonitions about the neighbourhood’s downfall.
That’s the premise of Chelene Knight’s latest novel Junie, released in September last year. It tells the fictional story of a girl who is navigating a complicated relationship with her mother as she comes into her own as an artist growing up in Hogan’s Alley. Though Knight’s characters are fictional, the streets they roam were once real.
