Word of Mouth (Thistledown) is M.A.C. Farrant's fourth collection of fiction and is in two parts: stories about Sybilla, a nineteen-year-old mother struggling to survive in suburban Vancouver Island, stretching welfare cheques and coping with perverted, judgmental neighbours ("The McHates"); and the story of a woman raised by her aunt and often absent parents. This second section is written in the second person—a difficult undertaking but here it works, especially in the collection's most powerful story, "Navigation," where the daughter speaks to her absent father.