Readers might presume that a story told from the point of view of a lesbian about her dead lesbian lover, her crazy lesbian friend, and the beautiful lesbian painter she is falling for will primarily be interesting to, well, lesbians. But in the case of Gotta Find Me an Angel, the debut novel by B.C. poet Brenda Brooks, readers would be wrong.

The novel opens with the narrator, a 35-year-old movie projectionist in Toronto, talking about the past year of her life to the ghost of her first love, Madeline, who stuffed her pockets full of stones and drowned herself when she was 15. Not much actually happens over the course of the year. The narrator meets and becomes reluctant roommates and friends with a crazy poet named Billie Smart, who in turn introduces her to a beautiful painter named Julia Riding, who helps her finally give up the ghost, so to speak.

The novel is propelled by Brooks’s ability to saturate each word, phrase, and sequence of dialogue with an emotional truth that will be familiar to anyone rendered bereft by the death of love. The tone never becomes too heavy, as there is enough humour and levity woven throughout to keep the narrator from descending into adolescent angst.

Still, Gotta Find Me an Angel is not without problems. Brooks’ roots as a poet peek through early in the book, with lyrical turns of phrase that are inconsistent with the sarcastic voice of the narrator. The character descriptions tend to centre around their hair. Billie is the only fully formed character, with the rest, including the narrator and both loves, lacking enough substance for them to truly come alive. Memories of Madeline give no indication of the torment that caused her to take her own life, while Julia simply seems incomplete at times