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"This has something for everyone.""--The Bulletin
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"An evocative, passionate story.""--The Midwest Book Review"
"From the Hardcover edition."
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Hilly is the main character. There are many different storylines in the entire novel, all a type of prejudice. Hilly's grandmother, an Alzheimers victim, comes to live with the family and her racist comments prompt Hilly to look deeper into her family's history. She soon discovers that there is so much that her grandmother has kept secret.
I would recommrnd this book to anyone who enjoyed 'The Shell House' as it is quite serious, but is well worth persevering with. A true heartwarmer.
The begining of the book starts off a little slowly, however, if you persaveer you will find a brilliant book. After half way through i couldn't put this book down, even though i should have been revising for exams, this definately outweighed that need.
We are introduced quickly but sketchily to the main characters. Hilly, a sixteen year old pre-A level student, with ambitions to go on to university, Zoe, her sister, a fifteen year old rebel, Reuben, Hilly’s closest friend who is gay, Hilly’s parents who have a minor but important role and lastly, the initially mysterious Heidigran.
Knowing that the book dealt with the holocaust and alzheimer’s, I had guessed that Heidigran would be a Nazi sympathiser. My assumption was based on knowledge of Linda Newbury’s other works on which she sometimes likes to wrong-foot her readers. Most books which deal with the holocaust do so from a Jewish point of view so I wondered if she would try the opposite angle. She doesn’t, but the effects of Heidigran’s alzheimer’s offer an insightful perspective on the still raw emotions of holocaust survivors and their families.
Why should you bother reading this book? The holocaust is a frequently digested subject and we all have a perspective on it. So, what relevance does it have for young people today? Linda Newbury has some answers. She uses the relationship between Reuben, Hilly and Reuben’s boyfriend who is a Muslim, to explore something of the modern tensions in the Middle East. This is very challenging as it isn’t as mediated and rehearsed as our attitude to the holocaust. You will find yourself questioning your own view and possible behaviours in certain situations. You may not like some of the answers. However, if you are ready to examine yourself, and history and its relationship to the present, take up the challenge. I did and I’ve certainly grown from it.
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