Rainey's Lament - Tapa blanda

A poweful explorations of grief and the restorative powers of love. (SUNDAY TIMES)

Rainey's emotional developments are charted with convincing precision. (THE TIMES)

[An] exquisite novel about giving and growing up. (WOMAN'S JOURNAL)

Fifteen-year-old Mary Jane McBride abandons her family and her newborn baby 'Rainbow Planet', otherwise known as Rainey, knowing she can find a new and better life away from small-town Wisconsin. Only a few weeks old, Rainey is virtually an orphan as her two ageing grandparents take on parental responsibility. Love is hard to come by, and Rainey develops a fierce loyalty and love for her cousin, Ambrose, who, like Rainey, feels a complete misfit. They become blood brothers. In the face of tragedy, Rainey experiences grief that practically destroys her. All her dreams mean nothing and she has to re-evaluate herself. Spanning three American generations, this is the remarkable story of Rainey - her coming-of-age and her staggering ability to give love freely and unconditionally. Rainey is every little girl on the brink of discovering what it means to be alive, what it means to be herself. Her story is a lament in every sense: a passionate song about loss and the people who have fled from it, and those like Rainey who wait for the day when, through love, they may truly understand the keening songs of sorrow.