Alice Bliss

Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington

About The Book:

Outside the back window Alice can see the outlines of the garden, some of the furrows visible under the snow, stretching away in long thin rows. She can't imagine doing the garden without her dad. It's his thing; she's always thought of herself as his assistant at best. She can't imagine doing anything without her dad and she starts to feel like she can't breathe. And then she looks at him. Just looks at him as he watches the fire with muffin crumbs on his lap.

'I'll write to you.'

'I know, sweetheart.'

'Every day.'"

When Alice Bliss learns that her father, Matt, is being deployed to Iraq, she's heartbroken. Alice idolizes her father, loves working beside him in their garden, accompanying him on the occasional roofing job, playing baseball. When he ships out, Alice is faced with finding a way to fill the emptiness he has left behind. Matt will miss seeing his daughter blossom from a tomboy into a full-blown teenager. Alice will learn to drive, join the track team, go to her first dance, and fall in love, all while trying to be strong for her mother, Angie, and take care of her precocious little sister, Ellie. But the smell of Matt is starting to fade from his blue shirt that Alice wears everyday, and the phone calls are never long enough. Alice Bliss is a profoundly moving coming-of-age novel about love and its many variations - the support of a small town looking after its own; love between an absent father and his daughter; the complicated love between an adolescent girl and her mother; and an exploration of new love with the boy-next-door. These characters' struggles amidst uncertain times echo our own, lending the novel an immediacy and poignancy that is both relevant and real. At once universal and very personal, Alice Bliss is a transforming story about those who are left at home during wartime, and a teenage girl bravely facing the future.

My Thoughts:

Love love love this book! It really pulls at the heartstrings and makes me remember how it was for me when Jason was deployed. I like the way the book is laid out, with the dates as chapters, and from Alice's point of view. This story brings the war home, which so many of us have personally experienced, but many have not, and this book vividly depicts what it is like to be the family left behind. I could not put this book down as I followed along with Alice as she grew. This is an amazing debut novel for Laura Harrington! Bravo!

Book comes out June 2nd, 2011, pre-order it now on Amazon!

I received a complimentary review copy of this book from Penguin Group. All thoughts and opinions are my own.