Reasons We Break

Punjabi teens find love while navigating gang politics in this dazzling contemporary drama from Deo (TJ Powar Has Something to Prove). After his release from juvenile detention in Vancouver, 18-year-old Rajan Randhawa moves back home to Kelowna, hoping his former gang, the Vancouver-based Lion’s Share, will let him be. The gang’s godfathers won’t do that until Rajan works off what he owes, however, and send Nick, the Lion who recruited Rajan, to Kelowna to deliver their message. When Rajan resists rejoining, Nick kidnaps and threatens Rajan’s community service mentor and former math tutor, Simran, mistakenly assuming she’s Rajan’s girlfriend. To keep Rajan from breaching probation, Simran strikes a deal: she’ll fill in for the Lions’ incarcerated bookkeeper until they find a replacement if they’ll forgive Rajan’s debts. Exasperated but grateful, Rajan vows to protect Simran during her pseudo-employment, a feat that proves increasingly difficult as overachiever Simran makes herself indispensable. Deo weaves a multi-faceted, richly textured, high-stakes plot that explores Indo-Canadian gang culture and the pressures felt by children of immigrants. Rajan and Simran’s alternating perspectives—rendered using close-third-person present-tense narration that counsels empathy—foster tension and urgency. The keenly wrought cast is intersectionally diverse. Ages 14–up. Agent: Jennifer Azantian, Azantian Literary. (Nov.)