When Raymond comes along, it's too easy to fall in love.
Only Livvy's best friend, Rosella, knows, and she loyally helps Livvy maintain her secret.īut two years of living alone has made Livvy lonely and vulnerable.
Yet, it is also easier than it should be, because Kumquats folks, like many of us, are too busy and self-absorbed to look too deeply into Livvy's various ruses. This is harder than it might seem because Kumquats folks are quite nosy. For that matter, so could Livvy, because what if the officials forced her to live with her obnoxious uncle and his family?-a fate that Livvy hopes to avoid at all costs!Īnd so for two years, Livvy has expertly managed to keep secret from the people of Kumquat, her home town, the fact that she is alone. Livvy knew if it was learned that she was on her own, her mother could be in trouble. True, her mother sent her a postcard now and again, but never a clue to her whereabouts-or when she might return, if ever. And that left fifteen-year-old Livvy, self-reliant and practical, all alone. A compelling account that concludes with a reconciliation that recalls Ellis' moving finale to A Family Project (1988).Luna Lee, fragile and vague, had wandered off for parts unknown. Grant writes beautifully here Jessie's poignant grief is expressed with the authenticity and poetic power of experience recollected after the healing passage of time. Ironically, Jessie continues her own withdrawal as she gradually becomes aware of her true mixed feelings about her sister yet the dramatic turnaround-triggered as Jessie finally recognizes the depth of her own and others' feelings toward Helen-rings entirely true. Jessie is angered at Helen's boyfriend, Bloomfield, believing that he abandoned her sister when he learned that she had cancer-but that's only part of the story, as she discovers by reading Helen's diary, which alternates with Jessie's narration.
Older brother Lucas, a dedicated musician, is constantly at war with his unsympathetic father grieving herself, Mom is at a loss when it comes to dealing with Jessie's grief, which is expressed at first in nightmares about loss and then in anorexia and agoraphobia. The surviving family, however, is all too human. Helen succumbs to cancer just before her high-school graduation, and months later her year-younger sister Jessie remembers her as near-perfect-caring, competent, a gifted author-to-be.
Here, the author of Kumquat May, I'll Always Love You (1986) explores a more serious theme: dealing with grief after a sister's death.
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