Twelve-year-old Dorcas is her mother’s least favourite child, constantly dangling at the bottom of the eponymous string of beads displaying her and younger siblings Ruthy and Caleb’s position relative to their mother’s quicksilver mood swings. It’s an image made especially poignant by Dorcas’s often self-aware narration. Her point of view steps deftly between comedic family scenarios, moments both endearing and terrifically tragic, and the injustices done to her headstrong self that make you want to line up all the adults in the room for a good talking to. (Or locking up.) Set in 1960s Adelaide, Denise Picton’s emotionally rich debut novel draws from her early career in social work and her lived experience of growing up in the insular world of the Christadelphian church. It’s a time and space where mental health challenges were often dismissed only to wreak havoc on families, as illustrated by the trickle-down effect of Dorcas’s mother’s distress. Picton treats her characters and the consequences of their actions with great empathy, avoiding neat solutions. Keep the tissues handy.
Reviewed by Donnay Torr.
