The Roaring Girl

“The Roaring Girl” is a short story published in 1995 by the Canadian author Greg Hollingshead. It is included in a short story collection of the same name which won Canada’s Governor-General Literary Award. Set in 1954, the story concerns a homeless girl who “roars” into the life of an eight-year-old boy, transforming him and his family.

This study guide refers to the 1997 G. P. Putnam’s Sons hardback edition.

At the start of the story, the boy learns from his father that his mother is pregnant and that her pregnancy is risky due to her age. The father, who works in a factory, brainstorms ways to bring in additional money to support another child.

The father decides to open a car service station. Though his village is largely undeveloped at the time, the narrator comments that in the future, the development will soon include “plazas, wholesale outlets, a twenty-story pink-stucco hotel, fast-food places, car lots, subdivisions crowding in from behind” (56). At first, the mother is upset to learn about the father’s business idea because she thinks service stations are “low” (56). Apprehensive of his father’s ability to run the station, the boy also has doubts.