The Antique picker’s daughter

The first thing you need to know: They’re not antiques.

The second thing you need to know: I’m not his daughter.”

Abandoned first by her father, and then by her mother, Frankie has been left in the care of her deeply religious grandmother. When her grandmother’s religious convictions tip into delusion, Frankie decides to run away.

Life on the street in Toronto is hard, and with winter coming, it gets tougher. This is when Frankie first meets Francis, a man old enough to be her father. He starts training her in “the game,” as she comes to call it; buying, stealing, and reselling “inventory” at inflated prices. Through winter, spring, and early summer, the two become a team, traveling around small towns and villages in southern Ontario.

As Frankie discovers, life on the road holds dangers she can’t anticipate, and her precarious world tips into disaster when Francis abandons her in an unfamiliar town. Betrayed, alone, and deserted, Frankie realizes she’s in a dangerous situation — will she be able to find her way out on her own?

The Antique Picker’s Daughter explores youth homelessness, human trafficking, and one young woman’s search for safety.

Dugan deftly navigates the story of this found and faulted family.”
— Sarah Withrow, author of Bat Summer

Genre: literary fiction/general fiction

Language: English

ISBN (Print): 978-1-83421-032-2

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-83421-033-9

Publishing date: 25 September 2026

Price: CAD $24.95

Trim: 5.875 x 8.5 in.

Page count: 250 pp.

Format: Perfect bound

Contact and ordering information:

Inanna Publications and Education Inc.
210 Founders College
York University
4700 Keele Street
Toronto, ON M3J 1P3
Canada

416.736.5356
inanna.publications@inanna.ca

And now available on Amazon.