One Whole and Perfect Day
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- £4.49
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- £4.49
Publisher Description
Freakish, thought Lily; that was the word for her family. Not freaks exactly, but all peculiar in their own way. And Lily had always been the sensible one. Sometimes she wished she could be like the other girls in her year Maybe she should fall in love. What could be less sensible than that? Fall in love? Ridiculous! But when she saw Daniel Steadman and their eyes caught, only for a second, the tiny encounter gave Lily a strange light woozy feeling inside her head. It made her brain feel funny, like a tablet fizzing, dissolving away inside a water glass 'It's a rare enough thing to find even one truly distinct and fascinating character in a novel, but Judith Clarke has with secret ease created a dozen such in this book, from teenagers to grandparents, magically linked by a dozen different dilemmas, all leading beautifully from one to another and fitting together so endearingly.' - Ursula Dubosarsky
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Writing with the same warmth and humor that characterized her earliest novels (the Al Capsella series), Clarke introduces a new cast of endearingly eccentric characters who are drawn together to enjoy "one whole and perfect day." Seventeen-year-old Lily, the youngest, most "sensible" member of the Samson clan, has well-founded misgivings about the upcoming 80th birthday party for Pop, her grandfather. She is sure something will go wrong (as it always does) when her unpredictable relatives unite, still she hopes for the "perfect day" of the book's title. Pop himself is having a feud with Lily's shiftless brother Lonnie, and has even threatened him with an ax, causing Lonnie to leave home and move into an apartment. Pop's wife, Nan, who is as soft as Pop is gruff, might be considered normal were it not for her invisible best friend, Sef. Then there's Lily's psychologist mother, who works in an adult day-care center and is always bringing home "old people whose care-giver children were quite desperate for a little break." While the novel mainly focuses on Lily's exasperation with her family's peculiarities, the third-person narrative shifts among other characters' points of view, which reveal old resentments as well as their mutual affections, affections that prove to be more deep-rooted than grudges. Filled with surprising turns of events and serendipitous encounters with strangers (who ultimately take on significance in the story), this book celebrates rekindled friendship and blossoming romance. Ages 12-up.
