This is the blurb:
Eleven-year-old Allegra shuttles between her grandmothers who live next door to one another but couldn’t be more different. Matilde works all hours and instils discipline, duty and restraint. She insists that Allegra focus on her studies to become a doctor.
Meanwhile free-spirited Joy is full of colour, possibility and emotion, storing all her tears in little glass bottles. She is riding the second wave of the women’s movement in the company of her penny tortoise, Simone de Beauvoir, encouraging Ally to explore broad horizons and live her ‘true essence’.
And then there’s Rick who lives in a flat out the back and finds distraction in gambling and solace in surfing. He’s trying to be a good father to Al Pal, while grieving the woman who links them all but whose absence tears them apart.
Allegra is left to orbit these three worlds wishing they loved her a little less and liked each other a lot more. Until one day the unspoken tragedy that’s created this division explodes within the person they all cherish most.
I was captivated by Allegra’s voice – it’s innocent and empathic and searching all at once – and related so much to her yearning for harmony between the three people she loved most in the world. I loved the beautifully drawn relationships between every character, especially Allegra’s with Matilde and with Rick, and her friendship with Patricia was an added bonus to a great cast. Like I said, this book made me cry … and it also made me miss my Oma, who I spent many happy times with as a child and young woman. Don’t miss it and grab tissues.
My copy was courtesy of the publisher.
Monique Mulligan
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