Mac, Carrie

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MAC, Carrie

PERSONAL: Female.

ADDRESSES: Home—British Columbia, Canada. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Orca Book Publishers, Box 5626, Station B, Victoria, British Columbia V8R 6S4, Canada.

CAREER: Writer.

AWARDS, HONORS: Canadian Council for the Arts grants; Arthur Ellis Award, National Crime Writers of Canada, White Ravens, and Canadian Library Association Honour Book, all 2005, all for The Beckoners.

WRITINGS:

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

The Beckoners, Orca Book Publishers (Custer, WA), 2004.

Charmed, Orca Book Publishers (Custer, WA), 2004.

Crush, Orca Book Publishers (Custer, WA), 2006.

Contributor of fiction to literary journals.

SIDELIGHTS: In her novel The Beckoners Canadian writer Carrie Mac tells the story of Zoe, a young girl who starts a new life after her mother moves them to yet another small town. Trying to fit in her new school, Zoe ends up joining a local girl gang, but eventually begins to question the gang's violence and bullying. After she witnesses a rape, she finally seeks advice from her mother and other adults, and when little is forthcoming Zoe decides on her own to make a stand. She leaves the gang, and to make her opposition more public she befriends a young girl the gang had directed much of its intimidating and vicious behavior toward.

Ingrid Johnston, reviewing The Beckoners for Resource Links, noted that in her novel Mac "does not pull any punches" and that the novel's "depictions of violence are quite graphic." Johnston went on to call the book "a provocative and realistic portrayal of what it means to be a victim and a tormentor." Booklist contributor Hazel Rochman also cited the novel's realism, writing that "the vicious, violent harassment will stay with readers." In a review for School Library Journal, Roxanne Myers Spencer wrote that "Mac's novel compellingly portrays the herd mentality that every uncool teen dreads. The pacing is gripping and relentless."

In Charmed Mac's protagonist is Izzy, a teenager who is seduced and eventually led by her boyfriend, Dillion, into a world of prostitution. As the story unfolds, Izzy becomes the prisoner of a drug dealer and pimp. Gail Lennon, writing in Resource Links, noted that "the author demonstrates how easily girls can get ensnared in this dangerous underworld" and added that "the story is a powerful one."