Heather O'Neill's favourite Canadian book of 2018: Dear Current Occupant by Chelene Knight

As the year draws to a close, CBC Books is asking Canadian writers for their favourite titles of 2018. Heather O'Neill is the author of the novel The Lonely Hearts Hotel and was a juror for the 2018 CBC Short Story Prize.

O'Neill recommends reading Dear Current Occupant by Chelene Knight.

• 9 books that inspired Heather O'Neill

"Chelene Knight visits each apartment and motel room she lived in as a child with her dysfunctional mother. Each chapter is a brief description or a poem about the dwelling. The structure of this book really gives you the feeling of being in all these places. I felt I was sitting next to Chelene on the edge of a bed, packing a suitcase quickly, giving her mom's new boyfriend stink eye. The photos included in the book are remarkable too. Captures the guilt and love and desperation of having a parent who is a burden on a child. Some children have so much to carry, but Knight turns it into poetry. Beautiful work."

• Why Chelene Knight wrote letters to the current occupants of the houses she lived in growing up