Breathe

'Breathe' is the story of the youngest girl in a quirky, out of the ordinary family in a small New Zealand town in the 1960s. They are a family driven by the mother's flamboyant style and apparent lack of and disinterest for parenting. The children spend much of their time alone, making up games and adventures in their neighbourhood while the mother pursues her own interests - parties and dinners with extravagant, glamorous friends, and following her love for music. She dreams of being a famous pianist.
The protagonist, unnamed throughout the novel, is a dreamer, fantasising about a 'normal' family. Her greatest desire is that her absent father will come home and live with them again.
The story follows the life of the mother and her children through a period of several weeks from late spring through to summer. The family spend Christmas at home then holiday at a beach house where the promise of an idyllic week turns into a tragedy from which the family will never recover.
A parallel story is told, of the protagonist as an adult, when she comes home for a family funeral. As she tries to make sense of the overwhelming loss she is experiencing, she realises that nothing has changed since she was a little girl.

Breathe was first published by Penguin Books (NZ) Ltd in 2002.