The Family String

In 1960s Adelaide, 12-year-old Dorcas is her mother's least favorite child and always at the bottom of the family's string of beads. She dreams of having a dog or a guinea pig named Thruppence, but Christadelphians are not allowed to be 'of the world. When their older brother Daniel is exiled, each tries to suppress their dreams for a bigger life, but a series of mishaps lead to a tragedy. The Family String is a coming-of-age story that explores a fraught mother-daughter dynamic and the secrets adults keep from their children. It is about resilience, love, and forgiveness.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 10 November 2022
Publisher: Ultimo Press

Meet Dorcas, a spirited 12-year-old struggling to contain her irrepressible humor and naughty streak in a family of Christadelphians in 1960s Adelaide. She is her mother's least favorite child and always at the bottom of the order on the family's string of beads that she and her younger siblings Ruthy and Caleb reorder according to their mother's ever-changing moods.

Dorcas, an aspiring vet, dreams of having a dog, or failing that, a guinea pig named Thruppence. Ruthy wants to attend writing school, and Caleb wants to play footy with the local team. But Christadelphians aren't allowed to be 'of the world, and when their older brother Daniel is exiled to door knock and spread the good word in New South Wales after being caught making out with Esther Dangerfield at youth camp, each tries their hardest to suppress their dreams for a bigger life. But for a girl like Dorcas, dreams have a habit of surfacing at the most inopportune moments, and as she strives to be the daughter her mother desires, a chain of mishaps leads to a tragedy no one could have foreseen.

The Family String is a superb coming-of-age story that explores a fraught mother-daughter dynamic, and the secrets adults keep from their children. It is about resilience, and the loves that sustain us when our most essential bonds are tested, and how to find the way back through hope and forgiveness.

Weight: 298g
Dimension: 130 x 197 x 36 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781761151088