Alice is 15, with hair as red as fire and skin as pale as bone. Something inside Alice is broken: she remembers words but struggles to speak them. Still, Alice knows words are for sharing, so she pins them to posters in tucked-away places: railway waiting rooms, fish-and-chip shops, quiet corners. Manny is 16, with a scar from shoulder to elbow. Something inside Manny is broken: he was once a child soldier, forced to do terrible, violent things. But in a new land with new people who will care for him, he spends time exploring on foot. And in his pocket, he carries a poem he scooped up. And he knows the words by heart. When Manny and Alice meet, their relationship brings the beginning of love and healing.
WOW Recommends: Book of the Month for September 2018.
Reviewed in WOW Review: Reading Across Cultures, Volume XI, Issue 2.
- ISBN: 9780763692728
- Author: Glenda Millard
- Published: 2018 , Candlewick
- Themes: Soldiers, violence, words
- Descriptors: Australia, Oceania, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Young Adult (ages 14-18)
- No. of pages: 288