Writing The Worst Thing She Ever Did was a long and difficult process. The topic was challenging and I didn’t know quite how to go about getting the story on the page. I wrestled with it and edited it, rewrote it and started again. Finally, the idea began to be the novel as it reads now and I’m so glad I worked so hard on it because I feel that I’ve told the story I wanted to tell. Although it wasn’t easy, it taught me lots about writing and about rewriting. Rewriting this book, I learned more about writing than I had done in years. Sometimes, you have to look over things to see how to move forward. The idea for the book came to me one day driving the car in Saskatoon. I knew the character and the title. I knew what she had suffered. I knew how it would end. But it took many months of research and rewording before I felt happy with this book. Worth every minute though. As for the title, well, it changed dramatically from the original idea – the book has two titles now!

"My New Year's resolution: I'm moving on from everything that's happened. I'm not going to talk about it, think about it, let the memory pounce upon me like a waiting tiger, nothing."

All Sophie wants to do is forget. But it's not easy now that everything's changed. The house feels too big, school drags on for too long, lights are too bright, the room spins, and her hands get sweaty for no reason. And she can't remember why she was ever best friends with Abigail, who is obsessed with parties and boys. Only the new girl, Rosa-Leigh, with her prose poems and utter confidence, might understand. But talking to her seems impossible.

Lost in memories of the life she once had, Sophie retreats into herself. But there's only so long she can keep everything bottled up inside before she explodes. Maybe by confronting the tragedy of her past she'll figure out how to fix her future.

Life on the Refrigerator Door leapt into my mind as a title one afternoon when I came home and found a note from my boyfriend. In six words an intimacy about our relationship was revealed. I wondered how a novelist would tell a story with the limit of only be able to use notes – how much could I tell about my characters with hardly any words? The challenge interested me. It wasn’t until a friend of mine lost her mother to breast cancer that the challenge of writing the book became more than that. All of a sudden, I had characters – Claire and Elizabeth – and a storyline. The book was urgent, important and I loved writing it. I cried when I got to the end. Partly because I wanted it to end differently but knew it couldn’t. It is a book about running out of time. Partly because I knew I’d never write another book with those characters in and I’d enjoyed working with them so much.

Claire and her mother are running out of time, but they don't know it. Not yet. Claire is wrapped up with the difficulties of her bourgeoning adulthood-boys, school, friends, identity; Claire's mother, a single mom, is rushed off her feet both at work and at home. They rarely find themselves in the same room at the same time, and it often seems that the only thing they can count on are notes to each other on the refrigerator door. When home is threatened by a crisis, their relationship experiences a momentous change. Forced to reevaluate the delicate balance between their personal lives and their bond as mother and daughter, Claire and her mother find new love and devotion for one another deeper than anything they had ever imagined.

Heartfelt, touching, and unforgettable, Life on the Refrigerator Door is a glimpse into the lives of mothers and daughters everywhere. In this deeply touching novel told through a series of notes written from a loving mother and her devoted fifteen-year-old daughter, debut author Alice Kuipers deftly captures the impenetrable fabric that connects mothers and daughters throughout the world. Moving and rich with emotion, Life on the Refrigerator Door delivers universal lessons about love in a wonderfully simple and poignant narrative.