The Family String

Denise Picton

The Family String
Format
Paperback
Publisher
Ultimo Press
Country
Australia
Published
1 June 2022
Pages
352
ISBN
9781761150661

The Family String

Denise Picton

Meet Dorcas, a spirited 12-year-old struggling to contain her irrepressible humour and naughty streak in a family of Christadelphians in 1960s Adelaide. She is her mother’s least favourite 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 Dawlish at youth camp, each try 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 lead to a tragedy no one could have foreseen.

This 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.

Review

The Family Stringis a wonderfulcoming-of-age story thatexplores the bondsbetween mothers anddaughters, and thesubtle ways in whichthey express their lovefor each other in tryingtimes.

Set in 1960s Adelaide, 12-year-oldDorcas grows up in a family ofChristadelphians, a denomination ofChristianity whose strict, fundamentalistbeliefs forbid worldliness andentertainment. However, this simplydoesn’t work for wild-child Dorcas, whoselovable humour, irrepressible cheek andnaughty streak goes against every rule andrestriction her mother tries to impose. AsDorcas’ dreams of the outside world growbigger and bigger, so too do the internalconflicts of her family, and Dorcas is leftwondering if the ones she loves will ever strengthen their bond again, or if it willinevitably fall apart.

When I was not reading this book,I was thinking about this book. Myheart was with Dorcas on every step ofher journey. She’s an engaging, livelycharacter whose naïve and trusting naturesometimes brings the reader to grief, asDorcas doesn’t always understand thefull picture of the situation before her.Nevertheless, she quickly lifts your spiritsagain with her consistent pestering for adog and knack for causing havoc. You’reintrigued by the community the family issurrounded by and the secrets this townholds; the mystery behind why Dorcas’older brother Daniel is exiled, the pastDorcas’ mother hides beneath her stonyexterior, and the severity with whichreligious fanaticism can affect a youngchild’s mind. Social propriety is an all encompassing burden on Dorcas as wellas her mother, who longs for acceptanceand conformity, no matter how much itmay tear apart her family.

Denise Picton’s debut dissects thecomplexities of family bonds, and howdespite the arguments, tension andsometimes even hatred, love will alwaysprosper and win out in the end.


Aurelia Orr is from Readings Kids

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