What makes a child disadvantaged? This question underlies a new novel, set in 1977, by Natale Ghent, a journalist and the author of Piper. Twelve-year-old Nathaniel, the narrator, and his two sisters have been economically disadvantaged since their father left them four years before. Their mother is having such a hard time keeping the household together that she has little patience or energy to be interested in the doings of her children. Nathaniel’s socks never match, and he reads over lunch break because he has neither a lunch nor any friends to eat it with. On the other hand, he is so bright that he’s skipped a grade in school, is conscientious and reflective beyond his years, and has a close companionship with his sisters. Though they don’t always get along, the three are fiercely loyal to each other.

Best of all, at the start of the novel they answer a newspaper ad and get a free pony, which is “no small thing.” Beautiful, responsive Smokey becomes the centre of the children’s lives, though not the centre of the novel. Ghent writes knowledgeably about the pleasures and difficulties of keeping a pony on your paper route money, but at the heart of the novel is Nathaniel’s love for, and sometimes tormented relationships with, his mother and sisters.

Ghent achieves a rare thing in YA fiction: she creates a loveable young hero who deals with a lot of troubles without whining or making too much of them, and she shows the vicissitudes of family life without exaggerating or overloading the novel with social problems. By the end of Nathaniel’s absorbing story, Ghent has revealed that financial and social disadvantages can matter less than the ability to meet life with insight, courage, and love.