"An Inmate's Daughter" by Jan Walker

AN INMATE’S DAUGHTER by Jan Walker tells the simple story of young Jenna MacDonald, her mother Lynn, her kid brother Zeke, her grandparents (with whom the three now live), and the father incarcerated for murder.  It begins with Jenna doing, what her mother tells her, was “the dumbest thing ever.”  Following a visit to her dad on the island where he is imprisoned, she dove into the water to rescue a little girl.  As her brother Zeke always seemed to fall into the pool where they formerly lived, rescuing this girl was only natural. 

For Jenna’s mother, though, such an act was an inevitable attention grabber.  People would know of her daughter the heroine, thus being made aware of Jenna’s father, the inmate, thus ruining her chances at becoming the paralegal for which she had been studying.  Therefore, in the MacDonald household, there was a strict “don’t tell” policy.  Don’t tell anyone that Bernie MacDonald was incarcerated for murder.

Jenna shares some of the same concerns as her mom, though not for the same reasons, as she is hoping to fit in with the kids at her new school, make friends, and simply enjoy being a kid.  Will the Snoops, as she calls them, a group of semi-preppy girls made up of differing ethnic types (Jenna’s father is a Canadian Indian) will they accept her if they know about her dad?  Janna wants to have friend, and she wants to follow her mother’s rules about not telling; but, she also wants everyone to know what a great dad she has.

Typical teenage angst.  Typical single-mother angst.  Typical wonderful tale of growing up in America where anything can happen to anyone at anytime.  AN INMATE’S DAUGHTER takes a unique situation most people probably never consider (I admit my own ignorance) and covers it with the flesh of human experience.

What is the stigma attached to having a parent in prison?  How traumatic must it be for a wife, in raising two young kids without her husband, to face the extra burden of a husband who is a criminal?  Is there a bias she faces in dealing with people?  Do her children fear the ostracizing of their peer groups?

While this book is not heavy reading (it’s classified as Juvenile Fiction) it does tackle a heavy topic in a manner that is neither watered-down nor overbearing.  Jan Walker shows a mother and daughter who are both believable in their differing struggles.  While Lynn MacDonald’s words in berating her daughter are mean-spirited on the surface, underneath is clear pool of pain and fear.

Every member of this family exuded their own personable traits.  Jenna and Zeke, Grandma and Grandpa, Lynn – all were very believable and real.  Each had a character to themselves that was charming to read.  The ethnicity which seemed intent on blending into the theme of the story, though, it never exuded the same transparency.   Jenna is said to carry a swarthy appearance. Such never came through in the words of the story – as neither did her father’s Indian heritage.  Also, the Snoops never looked as multi-cultural as they were.  Their differing heritages never managed to resonate.

Nevertheless, AN INMATE’S DAUGHTER remains an intriguing take on the prejudice of society.  Suffusing Jenna’s story with the already known cultural biases present in the world (the differing ethnicities vying for respect) makes the judgmental attitudes an inmate’s family face more realistic and believable than an ignorant public would otherwise have known --  the mark of a well-written story succeeding in its goal.